Punjab government during the current financial year will spend Rs 900 million to make the saline land cultivable besides preparing a master plan worth Rs 2 billion to enhance wheat production which would help overcome wheat shortage in the country.
The provincial government will also recommend to the federal government to increase wheat support price for next year so that the farmers could be induced to enhance wheat production.
The government is taking various steps to increase agriculture production, and 60,000 acres land will be provided to agriculture graduates and landless farmers in this connection.
Provincial Minister for Agriculture Ahmad Ali Olakh said this at a BioTech workshop organised by Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Wednesday. He said that the dispute with an American company regarding the Bt cotton has been resolved. LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian, Vice President Shafqat Saeed Piracha and Chairman LCCI Standing Committee on Bio Technology and Genetic Engineering Dr Shahid were also present on the occasion.
The minister said that the government has also planned to provide incentives to agriculture scientists so that they could play their role in enhancing per acre yield. The research work is not benefiting the farmers community because of communication gap between the farmers and the research institutes which resulted in diminishing per acre yield in the country, he added. He said that the share of agriculture sector in the GDP has reduced to 20 percent, from 38 percent, which is a matter of major concern for the government. The government will provide 10,000 tractors at subsidised rates to farmers having less than 25 acres land while other agri inputs would also be ensured on subsidised prices.
The Minister said that a huge amount of Rs one billion would be spent on agriculture research while for livestock promotion Rs 1.90 billion would be allocated. A chain of cold storage will be built at airports with a staggering amount of Rs 840 million, which will help enhance the perishable goods exports. The private sector's involvement will be ensured to execute these projects.
The government, besides importing 100 more bulldozers, will take steps to make 335 bulldozers operational which have previously been declared useless while a taskforce on biogas has already started working on various biogas projects in different parts of the country. The minister said the government is spending Rs 560 million to promote mechanised farming in the province.
LCCI President said that the government would have to take concrete measures for promotion of agriculture sector. Thailand is not a Muslim country, yet its share in $200 billion exports of Halal meat is $5 billion, while Pakistan's share is negligible," and we, being a Muslim nation, must take steps to promote Halal meat export," he added.
He said that agriculture continues to be the single largest sector, a dominant driving force for the economic growth and the main source of livelihood for 66 percent of the Pakistan's population. It accounts for 20.9 percent of the GDP and implies 43.4 percent of the total workforce. But the sector is facing problems of low yield.
Pakistan's per hectare production of wheat is only 2.5 tons compared to 4.5 tons in India and 6.2 tons in Egypt. "Our sugarcane production per hectare is 45.1 tons compared to 65.2 tons of India and 90.9 tons of Egypt. Our potato production is 17.2 tons per hectare compared to 20 tons of India and 23.8 of Egypt. Similarly, the post-harvest losses of crops are about 40 percent due to lack of preservation facilities," he said.
Pakistan is fifth largest milk producer in the world but no proper measures have so far been taken for milk preservation and ensure cool chain system. The use of biotechnology can not only considerably enhance productivity but can also avoid post-harvest losses. He said that the genetically improved varieties should be available in the market.
The LCCI president said that 21st century is going to be the century of information technology and biotechnology. He said biotechnology is a broad term that covers the practical use of biological systems to produce goods and services. It includes the transformation of materials by micro-organisms, methods of propagation, such as plant cloning or grafting and may also involve genetic alteration through methods such as selective breeding.