Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bosan on Monday said here that 'Agriculture Price Commission' (APC) was being restructured to make better policies and economic analysis for the benefit of farmers. "This step is part of the programme of restructuring the whole agriculture system to bring improvement in this sector, which is key in economy by employing major part of population as well as contributing in exports of the country," he said at the International Agriculture Exhibition.
The exhibition was organised by Sindh Ministry of Investment Privatisation, and 'E-Commerce Gateway' at Expo Centre here.
The Minister said that to safeguard agriculture products in international market and to have maximum benefits from multilateral trading system, a 'WTO cell' has been established in Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock (Minfal) to facilitate quality agriculture production.
He emphasised the need to adopt quality grading of agriculture production to make it more competitive in global markets.
Highlighting the importance of agriculture sector in national economy, Bosan said that being a key element of the economy, it contributes 67 percent in exports in the form of textiles, rice and other agro-based products, 24 percent in GDP, and contributes 42 percent in rural jobs. Besides, it also helps in running the agriculture input factories like fertilisers, pesticides etc.
On economic policies of the government, he said that bold policy initiatives have been taken to put the country on the path of prosperity and progress. Controlling of budget deficit, reduced interest rates, bulk liquidity with banks and improvement in recovery of outstanding loans of banks are some of the glimpses of economic stability of country, he added.
Moreover, he said, the government has focused largely on infrastructure development and has increased development head to the tune of Rs 202 billion in current fiscal year, while Rs 66 billion has been earmarked for lining of watercourses.
However, despite all of this, he said, agriculture sector still faces major problems like rising cost of production because of upward trend in oil prices internationally.
In order to provide relief, the government had planned to procure 1.6 million cotton bales to stabilise the prices.
Furthermore, support price of wheat has been increased to Rs 400 from Rs 350 to give maximum profit to the farmer, while 230 000 tons imported fertilisers are also being provided to farmers on subsidised rates.
About cotton target, Bosan said that its production would be 45 percent higher than the target of 14.6 million bales while abundant availability of water due to timely rainfall holds bright prospects for wheat production.
The Minister said that special focus has been laid on dairy, meat and poultry products to bring them on modern lines and a new policy for fisheries sector of the country is being formulated to tap the vast potential of this sector.
Commenting on exhibition, he said that it would help the agriculture sector people to exchange information and new techniques in this sector. Federal Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Abdul Razzaq Thaim also spoke.
Later, Director-General Livestock & Fisheries, Government of Sindh, Dr Baz Mohammad A Junejo, in his presentation proposed integrated livestock programme to exploit the huge potential of this sector.
"Meat farming, mechanical slaughtering , processing and marketing are essential tools to exploit maximum potential of this sector," he said.
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