October 20, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 2, 1422

KARACHI, Oct 19: Federal minister for food and agriculture Khair Mohammad Junejo on Friday said that the present government was endeavouring to resolve the problems being faced by the growers.

“The government is also emphasizing the need of meeting the credit requirements of the farmers and that the amount of Rs45 billion that was allocated for the purpose would be increased to Rs100 billion”, he said while speaking as chief guest at the champion dealers’ meeting organized by the Engro Chemical Pakistan at a local hotel here.

The minister said to ensure better prices for the cotton growers this year, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan was carrying out the procurement of cotton.

He said the target for procurement that had been set by the TCP was to the tune of one million bales, which is 10 per cent of the total production.

Junejo said that in the process it was estimated that the government would be bearing a loss of about Rs2.5 billion.

The minister said that agriculture would continue to play a pivotal role in the economy.

He pointed out that agriculture is contributing one-fourth of the country’s GNP and 44 per cent of the employment opportunities. As many as 80 per cent of the exports are related to this very sector.

Earlier, Zafar Khan, president, Engro Chemical Pakistan, said Engro was vigorously engaged in promoting modern farming techniques to boost the agricultural production.—Agencies