HYDERABAD: Self-sufficiency in food main goal: Bosan
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, Nov 10: Fede-ral Food and Agriculture Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Bosan has said the main objective of the government’s agriculture policy are to achieve selfsufficiency by increasing per acre yield and strive for export of agricultural commodities.
In furtherance of the objectives, he said, the government was doing everything possible to provide basic inputs to farmers, including water, fertilizer, certified seeds, pesticides and the latest farming technology.
He was speaking at a seminar organized by the Sindh Agriculture Research Wing on “Grow more wheat” in Tandojam here on Thursday.
He spelled out steps the government was taking to increase crop production. He said along with providing the latest technology to farmers, the government was also making efforts to improve livestock production and horticulture.
The minister pointed out that the president had announced an agricultural package on June 10, 2004, under which 86,000 watercourses were to be lined in four years at a cost of Rs66 billion. He said this would save eight MAF (million acre feet) water.
He said mark-up on agricultural loans had been reduced from 14 to nine per cent and concessions had been given in purchase of tractors, farm machinery, pesticides and phosphorus fertilizers. He appreciated suggestions by speakers at the seminar to increase crop production in Sindh and also dwelt at length on incentives announced by the government to increase wheat production.
Mr Bosan said support price of wheat had been increased from Rs400 per 40 kilograms to Rs415 per 40kgs.
He said availability of water for Rabi crops was better than last year. He added that last year, 23 MAF water was available whereas this year, 35MAF would be available. He said that currently 216,000 tons of certified seed was available which was 23,000 tons more than last year.
He said steps had also been taken for timely provision of urea and phosphorous fertilizers, adding that 2.8 million tons of urea was available for Rabi crops against the total requirement of 2.7 million tons. Similarly, he said, 817,000 tons of DAP was available against the need of 747,000 tons.
The minister said prices of medicines had also been reduced and added that last year, 21 weedicides had been brought on the generic list and as a result, its prices had been reduced by 30 to 40 per cent. He said five more weedicides were being included in the generic list this year.
About agricultural loans, he said that its ceiling had been increased from last year’s Rs108 billion to Rs130 billion this year. He said banks had been directed to provide more loans to small and medium size farmers.
He urged farmers to concentrate on timely cultivation of wheat and said the procedure should be completed by Nov 30.
He said the ‘grow more wheat’ campaign had been launched under instructions from the prime minister last year which had produced good results as the last year production increased to 21.6 million tons.
Mr Bosan said some changes had been made in marketing of wheat for benefit of farmers, including concessions to the private sector in purchase of wheat. He said the ban on movement of wheat from one district to the other and one province to the other had also been lifted. He claimed that the policy had not only benefited farmers but also consumers.
He said that keeping in view benefits of the last year, the government also launched the ‘grow more wheat’ campaign this year for which Rs50 million had been allocated to disseminate information about the latest agricultural technology, research and extension.
He pointed out that progressive farmers were present in every village who were producing 40 maunds per acre wheat against the average production of 25 maunds per acre. He said this wide gap needed to be bridged.
The minister also discussed various programmes introduced by the government for development of the agriculture sector which included loan-II, financing, high value agriculture (livestock, horticulture), agro-business project, agro-based industries etc.
He said memorandums of understanding had also been signed with China, Iran, Sri Lanka, Algiers, Thailand and Malaysia which would provide more benefits to farmers.
