The United States of America International Development (USAID) agency and a Kyrgyz-Tajik joint-venture ‘’Altin Aymak” launched a new dried fruits processing plant in the Kara Bak village (Batkensk region of Kyrgyzstan, the “Vecherniy Beshkek” newspaper reported, referring to the US embassy in Kyrgyzstan.
The USAID co-financed the acquisition of new sorting, washing, and sun-drying equipment for the plant.
“This will allow the business to process apricots, plums, apples, walnuts and other dried fruits. The new equipment meets the food safety regulations and is located near the raw material sources, which, increases the capacity, quality and competitiveness of the business to the point of allowing competition in new markets. Previously, dried fruits were transported to Tajikistan for additional processing, before being exported to Russia, Turkey and other countries. Such partnership will grant Kyrgyzstan advantage to export dried fruits directly,” said the embassy.
The new factory was launched within the framework of USAID Agro Horizon project, which has worked in four regions of Kyrgyzstan (Batkensk, Jalalabad, Naryn and Osh) for four years with an aim of increasing the income of smaller farmers by increasing the performance and expanding the opportunities of Kyrgyz producers in local and international markets.
‘’As expected, the factory will employ 35 people, increasing the welfare of 400 families”, the embassy noted.
