DI Khan to have modern date farming, processing unit

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KP-BoIT) has taken measures for setting up a modern date farming and processing unit at Dera Ismail Khan. KP-BoIT vice-chairman Senator Mohsin Aziz stated this after an internal meeting, said a communication issued here on Wednesday.
The senator said the step was part of the efforts the board was making for introducing modern methods to improve yield of various crops and staple fruits as well as modernisation of agriculture system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“A piece of land, measuring 1,000 acres has been identified for investors to establish a state-of-art date farming and processing unit in Dera Isman Khan. It will have an operational capacity of 50 tonnes per day for 1000 acres,” the press release quoted the KP-BoIT vice-chairman as having said. He explained that the project had been initiated in collaboration with Agriculture Department.
Senator Mohsin Aziz said the proposed land would be leased out to investors for period of 30 years and the lease agreement will be extendable. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is blessed with high quality date producing areas, mainly south regions, like Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat and Bannu. He said the production had made Pakistan amongst top-10 date-exporting countries.
Regarding the significance of the project, the KP-BoIT deputy head said the establishment of date farming and processing unit is one of the steps for modernisation of the agriculture sector.