June 04, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

HYDERABAD, June 3: The government is warned against looming food crisis as pinpointed by the FAO and the IBRD, and of a whopping $70 billion trade deficit due to import of edible oil and wheat by the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) in pre-budget proposals.

In 21-page overview on the performance of agriculture sector last year, the SAB proposed policy initiatives to enhance productivity for benefit of growers, consumers and economy. Proposals cover all aspects of the sector.

SAB President Abdul Majeed Nizamani and other office-bearers said the government could convert the impending food crisis into an opportunity as the country had great potential to increase food production.

Agricultural economy of Pakistan suffers and bleeds for producing surplus food, as last year farmers suffered due to increase in wheat and paddy production and this year for bumper sugarcane crop, they said.

Increase in wheat support price to Rs625 per maund was a welcome step but came too late and too little they said and reminded the government that nowhere in the world the prices of wheat were less than Rs1,038 per maund. There was 40 to 60 per cent gap in the yield in Pakistan and other countries and could be bridged if the government set the priorities right, they argued.

Inter and intra-provincial water distribution was badly affecting farm production as according to a government announcement, water shortage was 28 per cent but Sindh was facing 70 per cent, they said.

The SAB leaders said that some 77 per cent tail-end farmers face water deficiency and criticized direct outlets, new distributaries and rampant corruption for ruining the irrigation system.

They felt that Pakistan could turn into an exporting country by covering the yield gap and producing new potential products.

Some 950km long coastal belt running from Sindh to Balochistan was ideal for palm oil production while the country had potentials to produce fuel from corn, rapeseed, and molasses/sugarcane, they claimed.A pilot project for production of 20MW energy from the dung of 600,000 animals of Karachi was suggested by them. Mangoes, dates, chillies, onions and tomatoes should be focussed for having export potential, they said while criticizing the non-availability of certified seeds, substandard pesticides and fertilizers.

Sindh was being allocated only 10 per cent of the total agricultural credit though it contributes 25 per cent to national farm production they said and justified their claim by saying that even this 10 per cent allocation was not being utilized due to various reasons.

They demanded an increase in farm research from 0.3pc of the GDP to 0.6 per cent as Pakistan was lagging far behind in this sector.

They disapproved the taxation policy for putting agriculture sector under the burden of indirect taxes. The sector pays 15 per cent GST on all inputs, including fertilizers and pesticides, they claimed.

They argued that there was an automatic tax exemption for trade and industry in case of losses which could even be carried forward but no such exemption was available to agriculture sector following natural calamities.