By Qudsia Bano ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 (INP-WealthPK): The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government plans to set up a food processing park in Peshawar, the provincial capital, to help reduce food wastage, boost farmers’ income and create job opportunities, particularly in rural areas of the province. Ali Bahadur, assistant director for planning of the province’s agriculture department, told WealthPK in an interview that the Board of Investment has opened the bidding process for contracting the food processing park’s project. He said the park will facilitate direct linkage from farm to processing to consumer markets via a network of collection centres and primary processing centres. He said the park will include a warehouse and a cold storage facility to support commercial activity. “It will use a cluster strategy to create incentives for food processing at the farm level under the public-private partnership framework.” The agriculture department’s official told WealthPK that agriculture has the potential to expand at a rate of 7% provided innovative methods of production, harvest and processing are adopted. “Pakistan ranks among the top 15 countries for producing 22 different types of key food crops. Frozen foods, value-addition in main food crops and fruits and vegetables, including intermediate items, are the three key industry groups to be included in the food processing park,” Bahadur said. The official said the establishment of the food processing park will go a long way in increasing exports of processed food items.  “The European Union has granted Pakistan GSP-Plus designation (zero to low duty), allowing it to increase its exports of processed food items to the European countries, so Peshawar’s food processing park will help the country earn healthy foreign exchange.” “Pakistan has yet to realise its full potential in terms of commodity exports. There is much to be done to not only increase harvest, but also its value. Concentrating on value-added products is a must to provide us with a considerably large income,” the official added, noting that it is in this context that centralised food parks become important as they add value to goods we export, resulting in higher earnings. “These parks also contribute to a large reduction in food waste at numerous points.” Over the past decades, Pakistan has made great improvements in terms of food production. However, due to high population growth, fast urbanisation, low purchasing power, large price swings, irregular food supplies, and inadequate food delivery networks, food security remains a major concern. After textiles, the food and beverage processing is Pakistan's second-largest industry, accounting for 27% of value-added production and 16% of manufacturing employment. From 2012 to 2018, food processing contributed to an annual average of $223.5 million in foreign direct investment, according to WealthPK. Despite its enormous potential, Pakistan's food processing industry confronts significant obstacles. Food processors' ability to operate at an industrial level is entirely dependent on the availability of raw materials, although they typically lack value-addition.