Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial has said that increasing export of agro-based products is the top priority of government and all necessary steps are being taken to uplift the agriculture for prosperity of growers.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 'Punjab Agri-Expo 2019' being arranged by the provincial agriculture department at the Lahore Expo Centre from June 22-23. The department is arranging this expo under 'Establishment of Modern Farms' project with the objective of introducing Pakistani agro-based products to the international markets and increasing agri-exports.
The minister appreciated the keenness shown by the departments working for promotion of agriculture and other stakeholders in the agri-expo. He said these kind of exhibitions are arranged to ensure better coordination and networking between all those associated with the agriculture.
The minister throwing light on the steps taken by the present government for development of agricultural sector and said that over 600,000 farmers have been given interest free loans while loan limit for Rabi 2018-19 was also increased to Rs 30,000 per acre from Rs 25,000 per acre.
Langrial said wheat growers had suffered loss this year because of off-season rains. He said the government had initiated crop insurance programme to protect growers. He said crop insurance scheme ambit had been expanded to 18 district of the province due to its advantage. He said growers under five acres of land are given 100 percent subsidy on premium while farmers having five to 25 acres of land will be given 50 percent subsidy.
He said the government is giving subsidy of Rs5,000 per acre to sunflower growers to promote oilseed crops in the country in order to save precious foreign exchange spent on import of edible oil. He said Canola and Sesame crops will also be included in this scheme.
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