Bosan for more investment in agriculture sector

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan said on Monday that provincial governments should invest more on agriculture sector uplift and well being of farming community. While addressing a roundtable conference at Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Bosan said that the federal government used to allocate huge resources for agriculture in national budget, however, following 18th Constitutional amendment, the resources are diverted to provinces, and thus are better placed to bring dynamism to agriculture sector through maximum possible investment.
The conference titled "Phyto-Sanitary Challenges in Mango Export to EU" was organised by the Plant Protection department in collaboration with USAID's Enabling Environment Project. Bosan regretted that unfortunately the country has not yet benefited from the agriculture sector in accordance with its mammoth potential and added that provinces are better placed to bring dynamism to agriculture through huge investments. He said that Pakistani's mango no doubt the best in the world but country would be able to extract benefits provided rest of the world get to know this reality.
He said that government is taking all-out measures to ensure penetration of Pakistani mangoes into the lucrative world markets. Bosan said that timely steps taken by the government reduced mango related complaints from 236 to only two last year. He said that export of Kino crossed 350,000 ton mark in the ongoing year which was only 225,000 ton last year while this year's tomato production stood at 3.8 million ton and 300,000 ton was exported only from Punjab. The minister stressed on extending maximum facilities to 97 percent farming community having small landholding instead of the three percent big growers. Bosan lauded Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for launching fruit fly project to enhance small farmers' capability to fight fruit fly. MCCI President Mian Iqbal Hassan stressed on paying attention to mango harvest, post-harvest and supply chain.