Rs 17 billion set aside for fertiliser subsidy

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Salman Shah has said the Federal Budget 2007-08 was quite farmer-friendly under which the government has allocated Rs 15.8 billion for agricultural development in the country.
Addressing a post-budget press conference here on Sunday, he said that this budget was geared to make agriculture and industrial sectors of the country more productive and more competitive globally. Salman Shah said that agricultural sector was observing growth and referred to the all-time high wheat crop and a bumper sugarcane crop in this regard.
He maintained that not only the crops had been very good, but the growers also received quite reasonable rates of their products. The support price for wheat was Rs 425 per 40kg, while the sugarcane growers got at least Rs 70 per 40kg from millers.
Highlighting the pro-agricultural features of the Federal Budget 2007-08, the adviser said that in order to provide relief to the farmers, the government was proposing 25 percent discount on the charges of electricity for the use of agriculture tube-wells.
He said the government had proposed to increase the subsidy on DAP from Rs 400 per bag to Rs 470 per bag to increase agricultural productivity. The total subsidy on the use of fertiliser is estimated at Rs 17 billion.
The adviser said that government had also allocated Rs 336 million for the provision of better quality seeds and for this purpose 15 new testing laboratories were being established along with the construction of Neelum-Jhelum dam project at the cost of Rs 84.5 billion.
About the housing initiatives, he informed that a scheme for poor was being launched. Land would be provided on official rate by district/provincial governments. This scheme is expected to provide 250,000 units and shall benefit 1.5 million families in all provinces.
He said that a scheme was under-preparation for construction of 37,000 apartments for low-paid federal government employees while the government had instructed CDA to develop a Sector of three and five marla plots for low-paid employees. In addition, in sector I-15 in Islamabad, 5,500 plots and 8,500 apartments will be reserved for low-income employees.