March, 16 2005	Wednesday	5 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 15: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture and Livestock has called upon the provinces to lift the ban on inter-provincial movement of wheat so that farmers could freely sell their produce wherever they got maximum price.

Presiding over a meeting of the committee at the Parliament House on Tuesday, Syed Ahmad Alam Anwar asked the ministry to fully exploit the potential in horticulture sector which would generate employment as well as earn foreign exchange for the country.

Earlier, Secretary of the ministry briefed the committee on the organizational structure and scope of activities of the ministry. He informed the committee that the ministry acted as a regulator and ensured the availability of agriculture inputs.

Discussing the late delivery of tractors to farmers, the committee asked the secretary of industries and production to take up the matter with the tractor manufacturers to enhance their capacity since there was a shortage of 15,000 tractors per year, which was likely to increase in the coming years.

The members of the committee were of the view that if the situation persisted, the matter should be taken up with the government to allow import of 15,000 tractors to meet the shortfall.

The chairman said despite several tax exemptions, it was amazing that the tractor manufacturers were not utilizing their full capacity.

The meeting also expressed concern over the increase of fertilizer prices despite decrease of taxes in the last budget. It was of the view that had the ministry judged the actual demand and ensured the availability of fertilizer, the prices would have been stable.

The official informed the committee that the increase in fertilizer prices was mainly due to the abrupt increase in demand. The committee asked the minister to timely intervene in the matter so that unavailability and the price of fertilizer did not hamper the sowing of crops.