ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser Wednesday said the Special Committee on Agricultural Products would send its recommendations to the federal government for boost in agriculture production and exports and for incentives to farmers.
The Speaker was addressing a press conference at the Parliament House after the 3rd meeting of the sub-committee of the Special Committee on Agricultural Products.
He said the provinces were responsible for implementing the policies on agriculture sector.
A main topic of discussion during the meeting of the sub-committee was about giving incentives to cotton growers especially those in Sindh and Punjab, he added.
He said policy experts would be included in committees of Parliament to strengthen their role in policy implementation.
He told that a working group comprising chairmen of National Assembly committees of finance and commerce was being formed to tackle the economic challenges by suggesting policy guidelines for different sectors.
He said the recommendations of the committee on agriculture comprising experts and researchers would be taken up and pursued in provinces.
The Speaker said that the problem of increasing fuel charges for farmers would be resolved in consultation with the stakeholders.
The Convener of the Sub Committee of the Special Committee on Agriculture Products Syed Fakhar Imam said the special committee was formed to work for promotion of agriculture and to resolve basic problems of farmers.
Agriculture was the backbone of Pakistan and its five main crops were wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane and corn.
Cotton was a commercial crop and 60 percent of the country’s exports were based on cotton and products made from it. Seventy percent of the cooking oil was produced from cotton seed and the cotton seed cake was an important input in the dairy sector, he added.
He expressed concern over the reduction in the acreage for cotton crop and falling of production from 14.7 million bales to 10.7 million bales.
He said the committee looked into ways to revive the production of cotton whose four big producers in the world were China, India, Brazil and Pakistan.
The local demand for cotton was 15-16 million bales and Pakistan was importing 4-5 million bales to meet its domestic needs.
He underlined the need to rectify policies to increase cotton production and introduce indicative price as was set for crops of wheat and sugarcane.
It was recommended by the committee to set indicative price of cotton to Rs 4000 per 40 kg. Minimum support price for cotton would encourage farmers and boost their production, he added.
Fakhar Imam said the committee on agriculture products had engaged foreign experts, academia and researchers to get their input for increase in cotton production. He mentioned that Bangladesh had increased its exports to $ 38 billion by selling its garments and cotton based products.
Pakistan could do the same and take its exports to $ 40 billion from $ 23 billion through value addition. Pakistan was earning $ three billion from export of rice and could further boost its exports of this crop.
He said wrong policies of the past had plummeted agricultural production. Fakhar Imam said the right policies will attract investors to Pakistan and boost exports to regions of Europe, North America and countries in Africa and South America.
He said the federal government had allocated Rs 12 billion for agriculture sector, adding an additional one billion would be given every year for research in the agri sector.
To a question, he said 800 seed companies were registered and a regulatory body oversees their affairs.
Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza said agriculture was a devolved subject and according to last economic survey the agriculture sector growth was in negative.
She pointed out that the cotton growers were suffering losses and the price of cotton needed to be increased.
The stakeholders of industry and agriculture should sit together to recommend steps to increase exports, she added.
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