May 29, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

KARACHI, May 28: The Sindh government launched the second phase of food security and productivity enhancement of small farmers -- crop maximization -- project at a cost of Rs49.5 million this week.

The project, which will be for five years, was launched at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary of Planning Nazar Hussain Mehr. It was also attended by livestock and agriculture secretaries and representatives of growers.

The project envisages financing to small farmers at two per cent mark-up to buy farm inputs.

About 230 villages have been selected in six districts of the province, namely Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Naushehro Feroze, Khairpur and Larkana.

The project will cover farmers with only 25 acres of land holdings, which constitutes about 95 per cent of the farming community of the interior. The project is being financed by Minfal.

For implementing the project, groups of 20 villages will be formed with a leader who would coordinate with banks and government departments to acquire financing and other farm services.

Under the project, the farmers will get cheaper financing to buy seeds, fertiliser and tractors. The group leader will be responsible for repayment of loans by farmers at the end of each year, paving the way for further loan for the next crop.

The project envisages establishment of enterprise clusters, rural poultry farming, fish farming, off season vegetable production, bee farming, input sale centres, milk collection centres, fruit and forest plants, nurseries, etc.

The first phase of the project was launched last year in only one village of Tando Allah Yar, which proved very successful in maximising crops and enhancing farm productivity.

The objective of the project is to supplement efforts to enhance productivity of small farmers and to build a sustainable mechanism to ensure continuity in farm policies to ensure food security.

A provincial steering committee has been set up to monitor the project. The committee is headed by Abdul Majid Nizamani and includes Mahmood Nawaz Shah, Nadeem Shah, Ghulam Sarwar Dars and Meher Ali Shah.

The Sindh Abadgar Board has welcomed the project and said that it would help small farmers to get loans on easy terms, which was a long outstanding demand of the growers.

It said that the soft-term loans would help farmers buy quality seeds and above all fertiliser whose prices have increased manifold in recent years.

Meanwhile, a World Bank-funded project of ‘On Farm Water Management’ will be completed in the province by June 30 this year. The Sindh share in the 4.5 billion national programme is Rs2 billion.

Of this, water schemes worth Rs1.8 billion were completed this year, while schemes worth Rs1.2 billion will be executed for the development of agriculture in the province during the next fiscal year.

The Sindh government is helping farmers in installing drip irrigation system and sprinklers at 80 per cent subsidy to meet the shortage of water. It is also importing heavy machinery to prepare unfertile land for cultivation.