FAO building 15 cold storages in 2 Kandahar districts

KANDAHAR (Pajhwok): The Agriculture Department in southern Kandahar province says the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is constructing 15 cold storage facilities in two districts of the province at a cost of $200,000.

Mohammad Hanif Haqmal, spokesperson for the department of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock in Kandahar, told Pajhwok Afghan News that construction work on 15 zero-energy cold storage units has been launched in the Khakrez and Zherai districts.

The project is being funded by FAO and technically supported by the Humanitarian Charity Organization OHW.

He said these cold storage facilities were being built in coordination with the Directorate of Agriculture and would benefit small- and medium-scale farmers.

He added that the cold storages were designed considering the region’s climate conditions, lack of electricity, and local resources so that farmers could preserve their crops—especially onions—safeguarding them from spoilage and extending their shelf life.

According to him, the total cost over constriction of these cold storage units reaches approximately $200,000.

The agriculture department stated that 10 of the units will be built in Khakrez district and the remaining five in Zherai district, each with the capacity to store around 20 metric tons of agricultural produce.

Haqmal said in recent months, Kandahar’s Agriculture Department has launched extensive efforts in several districts to support farmers by providing necessary facilities in areas of crop storage, management, and marketing.

sa/ma