MANILA - THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday it is extending a grant of US$30 million (S$45.5 million) to help rebuild Afghanistan's livestock and agriculture sectors after years of war and drought.

The grant will help in the setting up of five slaughterhouses as well as a number of small-scale packing, sorting, grading, drying, and cold storage facilities for such products as pistachios and raisins which were once major exports of Afghanistan, the Manila-based lender said in a statement.

To help encourage private investment, the management and operation of the slaughterhouses will be contracted out to private companies, which will have the option to acquire ownership of them.

Similarly, the marketing facilities will be operated and managed by farmer organisations and agricultural cooperatives, which will eventually assume ownership, the statement said.

The ADB also said in a separate statement that it will also extend a US$10 million grant to Mongolia to provide free textbooks to 110,000 students from poor families.

Another grant of US$400,000 will be extended to China to help the government formulate and implement pilot projects and mechanisms for civil society participation in poverty reduction programmes, the ADB said. -- AFP