Measures for rapid growth of agriculture sector urged

The President, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Syed Qamar-uz-Zaman Shah has called upon the government to initiate concrete measures for rapid growth of agriculture sector by providing maximum incentives to growers.
Addressing the members of the executive committee of the chamber here on Sunday, Syed Qamar-uz-Zaman, who is also the President of the Chambers of Agriculture of Pakistan has emphasised the need of granting subsidy on fertilisers, pesticides, electricity and diesel to growers in order to reduce the expanses of crop production.
He also called upon the State Bank of Pakistan to ask all commercial banks to grant agriculture loans to growers with facility of eight percent mark-up. The meeting expressed its deep concern over the increase in the rate of fertilisers and demanded the government to grant subsidy and ensure the provision of phosphate fertilisers so that the growers could be utilised the same during Kharif crops.
The meeting also demanded incentives in gypsum fertiliser in order to encourage the use of the same fertiliser in crop cultivation The meeting was attended among others by Akhund Ghulam Muhammad Siddiqui, Mir Murad Ali Talpur, Anwar Bachani, Agha Nasarullah, Muhammad Khan Sarejo, Haji Shafih Muhammad Leghari, Mir Imdad Talpur and Nawaz Ali Samejo.
Meanwhile, the monthly meeting of Sindh Abadgar Board, held here Saturday under the presidentship of its president Abdul Majeed Nizamani while congratulating the formation of new government hoped that the problems of the agriculture community would be considered accordingly.
The meeting hoped that the new government would make all out efforts for the restoration of the dignity of the country, constitution, democratic norms and economic of the country.
While reviewing the decision of fixing the support price of wheat, the meeting observed it insufficient and observed that it could not stop smuggling and hoarding of wheat as well as the culture of commission and corruption in its import.
The meeting stated that 80 percent of the economy of the country is based on agriculture production therefore maximum incentives are needed for its rapid growth.
The expected shortage of flour will force government to import three million tons of wheat in the months of September and October and in order to avert such situation, the meeting emphasised the need of adopting concrete measures to discourage the hoarding, black-marketing and smuggling of wheat for the betterment of agriculture sector and country's economy. The meeting demanded fixation of wheat support price as Rs 1000/-per 40 kilograms, granting subsidy on wheat to consumer, bringing the prices of chemical fertilisers at the level of January 2008 and releasing of irrigation water for Kharif crops according to agreement.