AGL 38.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 213.91 Increased By ▲ 3.53 (1.68%)
BOP 9.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.63%)
CNERGY 6.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.93%)
DCL 8.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.12%)
DFML 42.21 Increased By ▲ 3.84 (10.01%)
DGKC 94.12 Decreased By ▼ -2.80 (-2.89%)
FCCL 35.19 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-3.32%)
FFBL 88.94 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 16.39 Increased By ▲ 1.44 (9.63%)
HUBC 126.90 Decreased By ▼ -3.79 (-2.9%)
HUMNL 13.37 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.6%)
KEL 5.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-3.45%)
KOSM 6.94 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.14%)
MLCF 42.98 Decreased By ▼ -1.80 (-4.02%)
NBP 58.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.37%)
OGDC 219.42 Decreased By ▼ -10.71 (-4.65%)
PAEL 39.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.33%)
PIBTL 8.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.56%)
PPL 191.66 Decreased By ▼ -8.69 (-4.34%)
PRL 37.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-2.47%)
PTC 26.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-2.01%)
SEARL 104.00 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (0.36%)
TELE 8.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.71%)
TOMCL 34.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.50 (-1.42%)
TPLP 12.88 Decreased By ▼ -0.64 (-4.73%)
TREET 25.34 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (1.32%)
TRG 70.45 Increased By ▲ 6.33 (9.87%)
UNITY 33.39 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-3.27%)
WTL 1.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-3.37%)
BR100 11,881 Decreased By -216 (-1.79%)
BR30 36,807 Decreased By -908.3 (-2.41%)
KSE100 110,423 Decreased By -1991.5 (-1.77%)
KSE30 34,778 Decreased By -730.1 (-2.06%)

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has termed the agriculture sector as backbone of the country, saying, it is the duty of the federal government to utilise all available resources to facilitate this sector.

“Farmers would be remembered in history as builders of Pakistan,” he said, addressing a seminar on agriculture and food security on Monday.

The event saw the launch of Green Pakistan Initiative aimed at enhancing food security of Pakistan, and increase exports and reduce the agriculture- related imports.

PM Shehbaz inaugurates centre to promote agricultural exports

PM Sharif said the Green Pakistan Initiative would bring about the second agriculture revolution in the country and would create four million jobs.

The government increased the support price of wheat which led to record production of the commodity, he stated. He was hopeful that production of cotton would also rise.

He said it was the responsibility of every government to provide better seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to the farmers and equip them with latest technology.

He showed concern over the adulterated pesticides given to farmers and warned of action against the culprits.

The PM said state-owned enterprises were losing Rs 600 billion every year and thus bleeding the economy. Pakistan imported $ 4.5 billion of palm oil, which is a burden on the national economy, he said.

The PM said gulf countries were ready to invest in the agriculture sector and bring modern machinery to boost crops production.

Pakistan needs political stability to attract investment as unstable environment investors discourages investment, he said. Pakistan could attract investment of $ 40 to $ 50 billion in the coming years and it could make food exports to the gulf countries presently importing food products worth $ 40 billion, Sharif said.

Addressing the seminar, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir assured Pakistan Army’s full support for all the initiatives being initiated under the ambit of Special Investment Facilitation Council including Green Pakistan Initiative.

“Allah, the Almighty has blessed Pakistan with many resources. We are a capable nation and it has the potential to rise to the top,” COAS Gen Munir said. He said everybody should contribute to Pakistan’s development.

The army chief expressed confidence that Pakistan will achieve progress and development and no power on the earth can stop this from happening. “We have gathered to make Pakistan green once again,” he said.

Senior government officials, agriculture experts, as well as, foreign dignitaries from different countries attended the event.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

Comments

Comments are closed.

Tariq Qurashi Jul 11, 2023 10:08am
The majority of farms are now below 5 acres which is not viable for commercial farming. Bringing unused government land into high tech Commercial Farming and Horticulture is a good idea. The introduction of water saving technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation would help save water. One aspect of FDI in this field should be that foreign investors can only repatriate profits equivalent to the foreign exchange earned from exporting their produce. Another aspect of keeping farm sizes viable is "Haq Shufa' . This system has gone out of use, and needs to be revived. A farmer adjacent to the land being sold can buy this land if he meets the best price. This system allowes farms to increase in size as a balance to farms decreasing in size due to inheritance.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
Tulukan Mairandi Jul 11, 2023 10:14am
He forgot a major flood is gonna crush the farmlands in coming short weeks
thumb_up Recommended (0)
KU Jul 11, 2023 12:01pm
The PM can be as optimistic as he pleases, he is not affected by agriculture, while farmers are grappling with devastation and a very certain death of farming. The cost of production is not affordable anymore, and farmers are growing only to feed themselves. BR should write a piece on the real prices of fertilizers, seeds, and diesel at the tehsil level, and the euphoria of the 2nd Agriculture Revolution will become apparent to everyone, and maybe some sense will prevail.
thumb_up Recommended (0)