The National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) on Thursday recommended imposing ban on cotton import in order to protect and safeguard the interest of the local farmers. The committee met with Muhammad Ajmal Khan in the chair here on Thursday where cotton import and production were reviewed.
The committee asked for taking special measures to encourage the local farmers to bring more areas under cotton cultivation that would help in saving the precious foreign exchange reserves of the country that consumed on the import.
The meeting also asked for finalizing all the modalities to announce minimum support price for cotton crop by March 15th, which would encourage the local farmers to grow crop on more areas. The committee expressed its deep concerns over the declining cotton production in country that had reached 8.5 million bales and asked for taking all possible measures to enhance the output of the crop.
"Cotton import summary was submitted to the ECC and the MNFSR had opposed it, however now, the cotton has been allowed without any time frame," said Secretary Dr Hashim Popalzai, adding that there was still cotton available with farmers as they were facing some problems in its sale.
He further told the meeting that last year, the government had fixed the time frame for the import of cotton but this year it had not given any time limit for the import of crop that would affect the local farmers. He said that the farmers from south Punjab was facing problems in selling their produce, adding that cotton was still available with farmers but it was not purchased by them due to different reasons.
However, he told that a meeting was held under the chairmanship of prime minister, which had suggested several measures to promote cotton on large scale. He said that a committee was also constituted for announcing support price for cotton crop for coming season, besides import of PB Robs to control the attack of pink ball worm and seed sector reforms.
The committee chairman astonished that how cotton import was allowed despite the opposition of the MNFSR. He said that due to some people's policies inflation is rising. How is it possible that cotton import was allowed without any timeframe?
He further stated some irrelevant policies regarding agriculture are hurting the sector and voice would be raised in the assembly in this regard. Secretary Food told the committee that the government had banned the import of apples, New Zealanders are asking to open apple imports, but the production of our own apples is enough.
The committee pointed out that Pakistan's agriculture remained the most neglected sector during the last few decades consequently the condition of growers deteriorated with the passage of time. The committee deemed that the agriculture sector was the only source, which could bring prosperity in the country by generating maximum revenue.
The committee directed that M/o National Food Security and Research may take stringent measures to bring benefits of their policies at grassroots level by developing proper liaison between the ministries/departments working on parallel grounds.
The committee directed that Ministry of National Food Security and Research may come up with the proposals for the revival of agriculture sector so that the committee could take them at appropriate forum for their amicable solution. The Secretary National Food Security and Research apprised the committee about the measures adopted by them to facilitate the farmers and problems faced by them in this regard.
The committee accorded the approval for proposed Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2020-2021 worth Rs23.32 billion of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for 14 new and 28 ongoing development projects.
Officials at the Ministry of Food Security say olive cultivation is under consideration for commercial infrastructure in Pakistan at a cost of Rs53 million next fiscal. The committee also expressed its displeasure on consecutive absence of minister for National Food Security and Research in the meeting of the committee.
The committee noted with grave concerns that it was the third meeting of the committee after assuming the charge by Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar as minister and which was not attended by him. The committee unanimously proposed to write speaker National Assembly regarding the continuous absence of the concerned minister in the meeting, besides urging the speaker to direct him to ensure his presence in the meetings for appropriate policy and legislation regarding agriculture sector development in the country.
The meeting was attended by Shaukat Ali, MNA, Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal, MNA, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi, MNA, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, MNA, Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraf, MNA, Chaudhry Faqir Ahmed, MNA, Shahnaz Saleem Malik, MNA, Syed Javed Ali Shah Jilani, MNA, Syed Ayaz Ali Shah Sherazi, MNA, Kamaluddin, MNA and officials of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and its attached departments.
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