Implementation of the Concept of “Agricultural Export Production Management in the Corona Period” Started

Implementation of the Concept of “Agricultural Export Production Management in the Corona Period” Started: Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock in encountering the issue of banning the agricultural export products due to spreading coronavirus and according to the attention and approval of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, commenced implementing a plan that deterioration and wastage of a portion of agricultural products is avoided especially those products which were exported in previous years, Heshmatullah Ghafouri, Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Natural Resources announced implementing of the plan at a press conference in the Government Media and Information Centre stated that this project includes construction of emergency Raisin Storage, building refrigerating room or storage room for storing Agricultural Products as soon as possible. Obtaining fruit and vegetables dryer machines to gardeners and farmers and the presenting contracts for purchasing of agricultural products by the organization to farmers. The Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Natural Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture reminded that the implementation of this plan is immediate and it will take four to six months. As per Heshmatullah Ghafouri’s Speeches, the budget for this project which covers part of Agricultural Products is 13.7 billion Afghanis, eight billion of which has been made available to the Ministry of Agriculture. According to Mr. Ghafouri's speech, in addition to the construction of 600 raison Storage and building them is an ordinary plan of the Ministry of Agriculture and their construction is going on. 4,332 new Raisin Storages will be built each with a capacity of 16 tones. Mr. Ghafouri said "the Raison Storage included in the plan will be built in average of four months. The Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Natural Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture said that in the framework of this project, 14,633 zero energy cold storages or onion and potato storage will be created each with a storage capacity of 5 to 10 tons of agricultural products. According to Mr. Ghafouri, in the framework of the implementation of this plan 884 SARAC's zero energy cold storages with a capacity of 25 tons each will be built. Pomegranates, grapes and apples are kept in these Storages. The Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Natural Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture said in total, with the implementation of this plan, 60,309 permanent jobs will be created and 191,670 temporary jobs will be created in the implementation of this plan. Mr. Ghafouri added that the distribution of 1,000 fruit and vegetables dryer machines to the farmers and gardeners is another portion of the plan. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, a number of domestic factories will also be working to process agricultural products as part of the project in order to prevent the spoilage of agricultural products. In raisins, grapes are converted into raisins, and dryer machines additional fruits and vegetables, including the program are dried. Domestic companies are also being lent $ 5 million to process additional products Tomato eggplant, grapes and apples, pomegranates) to extend their consumptive life. A total of 130,510 tons of fruits and vegetables (apples, pomegranates, grapes, onions, potatoes) will be stored in cold Storage to prevent them from deteriorating and spoiling according to this plan these projects are being implemented in contribution with development councils with a 10 percent expanse paid by the farmers.