MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Economic Transformation Project (KP-RETP), in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has launched a microfinance scheme for Mansehra farmers to help them enhance yields.
‘This project has evolved a comprehensive strategy for farmers, including public-private-producers partnership development and farmer-owned agribusiness hub initiatives,’ Mohammad Ishfaq Khan, the KP-RETP director, told a meeting of farmers here on Monday.
Farmers from across the district attended the event and interacted with representatives of KP-RETP and IFAD. Mr Khan said 400-member farmers’ societies had been formed to help increase agricultural yields and improve livelihoods. He said funds had been allocated to these societies to finance professional farmers to use modern ploughing and harvesting machines to bring barren lands under cultivation.
‘KP-RETP will evaluate the post-funding outcomes, assess beneficiary progress and measure the overall effectiveness and sustainability of supported interventions, with a focus on capturing tangible impacts on livelihoods and income generation,’ Mr Khan said.
The KP-RETP director directed office-bearers of the farmers’ societies to bring more and more peasants into their networks to benefit from the project.
He said that the government wanted to address core issues of farmers, particularly those settled in rural parts ofthe province.
FOUR ARRESTED: Police have arrested four persons for stoning to death two young cousins for grazing their herd in a meadow in Kaghan Valley last week.
‘We have arrested four accused, who stoned to death two young shepherds,’ Paras DSP Sadagat Nisar told reporters on Monday.
He said that police had constituted a team following the gruesome incident, which arrested Mohammad Miskeen, Mohammad Bhutto, Rangeen and Alamzeb.
Mehnaz Bibi, 40, whose family is currently settled in Naran and belongs to Haripur, had lodged an FIR, stating that her son, Abdul Rehman, 13, and nephew Rasheed, 14, had taken animals to the alpine meadow for grazing when Alamzeb and other accused showed up there and, after a brawl, pelted them with stones, leaving them critically injured. The injured later succumbed to their wounds.
She added that the attackers also belonged to Haripur. Correspondent