LAHORE: Belarus has shown its willingness to work with Pakistan’s Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to manufacture large tractors in Pakistan as negotiations are under process between the two states.
Belarus Ambassador to Pakistan Andrei Metelitsa disclosed this during his meeting with the Punjab Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani. Both sides discussed increasing cooperation in agri-mechanization, high-power tractors, modern agricultural machinery, and research and development.
Punjab Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani said that the Punjab government desires to benefit from the experiences of Belarus in the fields of agriculture. In this regard, the Punjab government will provide all facilities to the investors of Belarus for the installation of heavy tractor plants in the province.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s focus is agriculture and she has allocated a huge sum of 400 billion rupees for the “Transforming Agriculture Programme”, under which several projects like Kissan Card, Green Tractor, Solarization, etc are being implemented.
The minister endorsed that our locally manufactured tractors and harvesters are less efficient compared to international standards, which leads to post-harvest losses. In this regard, Belarus should introduce modern multi-purpose harvesters in the province to enable the harvesting of both wheat and rice crops with minimum losses. In addition, Belarus support is required for the availability of tractors of more than 85 horsepower for agricultural mechanization in Punjab. The Minister maintained that the Punjab government also intends to provide services of modern agricultural machinery on rent to provide facilities to the farmers.
The Punjab government is setting up Agri Malls in Multan, Sargodha, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur under the Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI) project, where farmers will be provided with quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides under one roof at fixed rates. Modern agricultural machinery facilities will also be provided on rent to the farmers in these Agri-malls.
Ambassador of Belarus Andrei Metelitsa said that Belarus is willing to work with Pakistan’s Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) concerning the manufacturing of large tractors in Pakistan and mutual negotiations are ongoing in this regard.
During this meeting, Punjab Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo and Punjab Agriculture Department Consultant Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali were also present.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024