ISLAMABAD: The Food and Agriculture Organi­sation (FAO) of the United Nations on Friday inaugurated the second chilgoza Processing Unit in Sherani district of Balochistan.

The project aims to provide relief to pine nut growers and mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the chilgoza value-chain.

The new facility has been set up after the successful operation of the first chilgoza (pine nuts) processing unit in Sherani district earlier on under the Global Environ­ment Faci­lity (GEF)-funded ‘Rever­sing Deforestation and Forest Degradation in High Conservation Value Chil­goza Pine Forests in Pakistan’.

According to the FAO, the first unit has already processed about 15 tonnes of chilgoza and fetched Rs24.5 million for pine nut growers in Sherani, and benefiting 421 people directly and 1,000 indirectly.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2021