HYDERABAD, Feb 26: The federal government will establish six agriculture training institutes throughout Pakistan, including one at the agricultural complex, Hyderabad, for training the youth in the agricultural sector as there was a huge market in Europe for trained agriculture manpower.

This was stated by the president of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah, and senior vice president Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui, who were speaking at a press conference at the press club on Tuesday.

Mr Shah briefed newsmen about the proceedings of the three-day meeting of the Federation of Chambers of Agriculture (FCA) held at Multan on Feb 18 to 20. Mr Shah, who is also the president of the FCA.

He said that the meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Oversees Pakistanis Abdul Sattar Lalika and Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar on Feb 20.

He said Mr Lalika had been critical of the performance of the Sindh irrigation department.

He said Mr Lalika pinpointed the mismanagement in the Sindh irrigation system saying that it was in a shambles and the canals, channels and water courses had not been lined as had been done in Punjab.

He said all the major issues relating to the agricultural sector, especially the water issue, were discussed threadbare.

Mr Shah said that Mr Lalika had also pointed out that the Sindh government had seldom raised the issue of the greater Thal canal, anomalies in the 1991 water accord and the Chashma-Jhelum link canal.

He said the government had failed to build storage capacity for crops as a result of which the crops were lying in the open and exposed to the vagaries of the weather.

He said Mr Lalika had told the meeting that 10,000 people were needed by Greece, Spain, Italy and other countries who had little technical training in the agricultural sector.

He said the minister had said that the six training institutions would train the youth in technical know-low in the agricultural sector and this trained manpower would be exported to other countries.

He said the federation meeting was attended by a large number of representatives from the four provinces, Fata, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.

SAB: The additional general secretary, Sindh Abadgar Board, Dr Zulfiqar Ali Yousufani, has demanded of the federal minister for agriculture to fix the minimum price of wheat at Rs450 per 40kg and reminded him that no increase had been effected in the minimum price of wheat after 1999.