LAHORE: Participants of the newly-formed “Agriculture Commission” met here on Wednesday with the Punjab Minister of Agriculture, Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani, in the chair and vowed to discuss and consult all the stakeholders to formulate a line of action for strengthening the agricultural sector of the province.
At the meeting, the members of the Agriculture Commission presented their expert opinions on the development of agriculture and solving the problems of the farmers.
Finance Minister Punjab Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Members of Provincial Assembly Rana Ayaz Saleem, Usama Khan Leghari, Rana Ijaz. Ishrat Ashraf along with Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Secretary Livestock Muhammad Masood Anwar, Secretary Agriculture, South Punjab, Saqib Ali Ateel and Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad Dr Iqar Ahmad Khan and other members participated in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister for Agriculture and Livestock/ chairman Agriculture Commission said that the Agriculture Commission has been reactivated to resolve the farmers’ problems on priority basis.
According to the instructions of the chief minister of Punjab, the focus has been on modern agricultural research with the cooperation of agricultural universities and research institutes.
He added that strengthening the value chain is very important for development of the agriculture sector. For this purpose, all the stakeholders will be gathered under one roof and recommendations will be formulated after consultation with them.
Apart from this, the present government is promoting agricultural mechanisation, green tractor schemes, and shifting the tubewell to solar systems to reduce the production cost of farmers.
Small farmers (owners of up to 12.5 acres of land) constitute 90% of the total farmers, and the main focus of the Punjab government is to provide facilities to them.
He said that 1,000 agricultural graduates will be employed in the agriculture department under the internship programme for one year.
Secretary of Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that the Agriculture Commission is the largest official forum for consultation regarding agriculture in Punjab. Decisions about government policies related to agriculture will be taken at the forum of the commission.
He further said that last year, there was a record growth of 6.5 percent in the agriculture sector due to which the country’s GDP increased by 2.3 percent. The current government is providing generous resources for agricultural development. Various committees will be formed in the Agriculture Commission to solve the problems of the farmers, he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024