August 10, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 11, 1424

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MANSEHRA, Aug 9: NWFP Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Qari Mahmood has said that the MMA government is making efforts for the promotion of tea cultivation and its production.

The minister was speaking to the staff of National Tea Research Institute (NTRI) at Shinkiari after attending a briefing on Friday. He said the NTRI would soon be turned into a commercial institute.

He said the MMA government did not believe in making false promises with the people and was taking practical steps for improvement of the efficiency of the institutions in  the province.  He said the provincial government had allocated Rs 40 million in the budget for tea cultivation and its production in the province.

Qari Mahmood said the institutions like PIA and railway under the central government were running in loss but the MMA government  in the NWFP had got better strategy to save  its institutions from loss or total collapse.

He  said all the organizations working under  the agriculture department had been directed to make coordinated efforts for promotion of tea production in the province so that attaining better yield of tea crop could save the foreign exchange.  

The minister said the improvement in tea production in the province  would  also help in eliminating unemployment.

He directed the NTRI officials to increase the number of tea plants meant for distributing free of cost among the farmers so that the growers could be encouraged for switching over to cultivation of tea crop.