Govt unveils Rs 309bn Agricultural Emergency Programme

ISLAMABAD: Federal government on Tuesday unveiled Rs309 billion ambitious Agriculture Emergency Programme to boost local production, reduce dependence on imports, improve lives of poor farmers and lead the country towards sustainable development.

The programme was announced at a joint press conference by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan and Senior Leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jahangir Khan Tareen.

Speaking on the occasion, Jahangir Tareen  lamented that Pakistan had turned into an importing country of food products despite being an agricultural country, having best kinds of water, land, environment and other prerequisites. Last year $4 billion agriculture products were imported, he added.

He said that the previous governments had failed to promote agriculture sector of the country.

Giving details about the programme, he said that out of the total Rs309 billion package, the federal government would provide Rs84 billion while the remaining amount of Rs225 would be shared by the provincial governments.

Addressing the press conference Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan also lauded the efforts of Jahangir Khan Tareen in agriculture development of the country.

The provincial agriculture ministers of Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also present on the occasion.

The Minister said that Jahangir Khan Tareen had made lot of  efforts to formulate agriculture emergency program which was focused on increased productivity of major crops including wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane and oil seed.

He said that Tareen had taken all the provinces on board and hold several meetings with them and formed working groups in order to finalize the program.

Meanwhile, Tareen said that PC-1 of Agriculture Emergency Program had been finalized and would be presented in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval to launched.

He said overall allocations for the agriculture sector had been enhanced as the federal government had increase it from Rs 1 billion in its Annual Development Plan last year to Rs 12 billion and same was followed in Punjab and other provinces.

He said that the spending would be taken up to record level of Rs 70 billion in next  four years.

He said that the program was a revolutionary step of the government and besides promoting the agriculture sector it would also benefit the local farmers as the special efforts would be made to enhance the per acre yield of all major crops.

Special measures would be introduced to enhance per acre yield of wheat from 35-40 maunds,  rice by 10-20 maunds, sugarcane by 650-800 maunds, adding that incentives was announced for the cultivation of oil seeds like canola and sunflower, he added.

In order to make the agriculture produces more competitive, he said that special measures would be introduced for energy, water conservation and pest management to reduce the cost of production.

He said that Rs 220 billion would be spent on the construction of small dams and water course development, adding that 70,000 water courses would be developed.

He said that about 50% water courses would be developed which would help to save about 9 million acre feet water annually and this program would be completed with in next four years.

Jahangir Tareen said that unfortunately Sindh Government had not so far participated in the program, adding that federal  government had requested them to participate in the program by setting aside all the political differences for the larger interests of farmers and development of agriculture sector of the country.

Despite that the federal government had allocated an amount of Rs15-18 billion in its PSDP 2019-20 for Sindh in order to promote its agriculture and livestock sectors as well as other areas.

He said that under the program, special measures would be taken to exploit fisheries sector as the country had 11,00 km long costal line, besides a huge potential was also existing in canals and rivers.

He said that ketch farming would be initiated in KP, Punjab and Balochistan provinces, adding that special loans would be provided to farmers of KP for trout and shrimp farming.

Jahangir Tareen said that government was also initiating three programs in livestock sector including safe the calve program, adding that subsidy would be provided to farmers for calve farming that would boost meat exports from the country.

Besides, the fattening program would be started and foot and mouth disease free zones would also be established in Bahawalpur that would increase meat and meat preparations, he added.

In order to protect the farmers from the exploitations of middle man, he said that the numbers of agriculture markets would be enhanced and four new markets would be developed in Punjab, adding that 56 existing markets would be upgraded in order to provide better returns to farmers for their produces.

He said that special focus would also be paid on agriculture research, particularly in cotton to improve its production by improving its management.

He said that command areas of different small and medium dams would also be enhanced to bring more areas under crop cultivation, adding that about 200,000 acres of land would be brought under cultivation in the command area of Gomal Zam Dam.

Jahangir Khan said that work on the construction of Kachhi canal had been started which was stopped from last several years after spending Rs80 billion, adding that it would save about 70,000 feet water every year.

Besides, he said that government was also going to start work on Kachhi Canal phase-2 that would bring over 70,000 kanal of land under culitavtion.

Replaying to a question, Jahangir Khan Tareen said that government would ensure the implementation of supports prices of all crops in order to protect the farmer.

He said that this year wheat farmers had received proper fixed price of the commodity all across the crop growing areas, besides cotton growers had also received stable prices which resulted in increase in area under cotton sowing and decrease in sugarcane sowing.

To another question, he said that sugar prices surged due to increase in tax rate that was deposited in government account. He said that currently there was no justification in price hike of the commodity, adding that all sugar mills were open for  provision of the commodity on official fixed rates.

Replaying to a question, Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan said that locust attack was intercepted, adding that ground and ariel spray were arranged to control the pest, besides activating and alerting the field extension of these areas.