The Asian Development Bank (ADB) would provide $25 million in loan to Pran Group, one of the country’s largest foodstuff-manufacturing companies, for building three food plants.

The ADB Wednesday signed an agreement with PRAN Group to help the company build three food manufacturing plants, said a press release.

“The new plants will collect as much raw material as possible from local farmers, and thus will help boost agricultural growth,” Martin Lemoine, Investment Specialist of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department said.

“The majority of Bangladesh’s poor still live in rural areas, and agriculture remains their main source of employment and income,” he added.

PRAN has set up Sylvan Agriculture Limited to build a liquid glucose plant in Olipur, 120 kilometers northeast of Dhaka, and a flour mill producing fortified flour and a frozen of food processing plants, both in Danga, 30 kilometers east of Dhaka.

The new plants are scheduled to complete by 2015. The three plants will cost $35.8 million to build. The rest of the fund will be provided by Chowdhury family, PRAN’s largest shareholders.

The plants will directly employ around 1,000 workers, and provide indirect employment for about 50,000 farmers who will supply maize and wheat to the plants under a contract farming model.

The management of Sylvan has committed to recruit at least 30 percent women workforce.

The investment, ADB’s first private sector agribusiness loan since 1985 and first private sector loan in Bangladesh since 2004, is part of its efforts to promote productivity and competitiveness in Bangladesh’s agriculture and food processing sectors.

The project will help boost country’s agribusiness sector, strengthen food value chain, increase food exports and improve food security and nutrition in Bangladesh. The project would play a crucial role in providing market linkages between farmers and food processing and export markets in the country.

Sylvan will have an annual production capacity of 45,000 tonnes of liquid glucose, 90,000 tonnes of flour and 180 million units of flour-based frozen foods and its annual sales is expected to exceed $50 million by 2016.

PRAN, with 29,000 employees, earns $450 million from sales including $70 million exports annually.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration.

Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region. In 2011, ADB approvals including co-financing totaled $21.7 billion.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/16-Nov-12