The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $10 million financing to Phoenix Fruits LLP for establishing greenfield fruit orchards near Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan. This financing aims to help grow a sustainable and competitive horticulture sector in the country and to create jobs.
With a land mass equal to that of Western Europe, 74% of Kazakhstan’s land is suitable for farming. This makes agribusiness a promising sector to spur social and economic development in the country and to help diversify its economy.
IFC’s investment will support the establishment of an up to 1,000-hectare greenfield fruit orchard facility with a full cycle of growing, calibrating, storing and freezing of various fruit types such as apples, apricots and sweet cherries. The new orchard project is expected to create over 100 full-time jobs, of which 70% are expected to be women, as well as more than 2,200 seasonable jobs for the local community.
“Throughout this project, we are bringing our best agricultural practices and expertise to Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the IFC best-in-class knowledge will also help us scale up horticulture harvesting, create sustainable jobs and open access to global agribusiness markets,” said Anatoliy Shakirzhanov, Business Development Director in Kazakhstan, Phoenix Global.
Source: timesca.com