Agri growth target likely to be missed by 1 percent

The country's agriculture sector growth target for the outgoing financial year is likely to be missed by one percent as it is projected at 2.5 percent against the set target of 3.5 percent due to missed sowing targets.
This was stated by a senior official of Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) while talking to Business Recorder.He also added that lockdown imposed by the government for controlling spread of coronavirus has not impacted agriculture sector growth. The main reason behind it is missed sowing target of major corps and climate change, he said.
Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) president Khalid Khokhar told Business Recorder that lockdown has not impacted production of major and minor crops in the country but it has negatively affected fruit and vegetable growers due to disruption of supply chain, including farmers, marketers, processors, transporters, sellers and customers. He said that Pakistan annually produces around 1.7 million tons of mangoes, which are exported to more than 50 countries. "This year mango growers will badly suffer as on the one hand climate change has adversely affected mango production in the country by 40 percent while on the other hand there are bleak prospects for mango exports due to Covid-19," he said.
Khokhar said the available cargo planes and freighters have increased their fares by 200 percent compared to pre-Covid19 normal rates.
The official of MNFS&R said the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) had fixed wheat crop production at 27.03 million tons from an area of 9.2 million hectares during Rabi 2019-20 but country produced only 24.8 million tons.
He said that sugarcane production in 2019-20 decreased to 67.47 million tons against the target of 68 million tons and the country has produced 4.812 million tons of sugar in the current year.
The official said that country has produced 9.18 million bales of cotton against the set target of 12.72 million bales for 2019-20. Pest attacks as well as weather have led to reduced production, he said.