Promoting agriculture: Conference on medicinal plants

The initiative is part of US economic growth assistance programme which includes expanding irrigation by 200,000 acrs.

Around 24,000 small business owners in the field of medicinal plants and honey were trained by the USAID, according to a press release issued. A Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and Honey Industry conference was held on Monday in Islamabad to give plant collectors and bee-keepers a medium to discuss business opportunities. Representatives from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, including the Ministry of Forestry and the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority, attended the symposium, along with experts, traders, and sales agents dealing in medicinal plants and honey. This initiative is part of a US economic growth assistance programme for the country which includes expanding irrigation by 200,000 acres to encourage farming near Gomal Zam and Satpara dams, and increasing the incomes of 250,000 farmers and female agricultural workers through training and increased access to market networks, allowing them to earn more money for the crops they grow.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.