October 18, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 18, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 17: Sindh Minister for Agriculture Syed Ali Nawaz Shah has said that the government is paying full attention to develop agriculture sector by adopting new technologies and benefiting from high-yield seed varieties and research.

This would not only give a boost to the production of cash crops but would also contribute to the efforts toward prosperity of growers and other citizens, he told a press conference held in the committee room of Taghlaq House on Friday. Agriculture Secretary Sabhago Khan Jatoi highlighted the role of agriculture sector in the provincial economy and briefed the journalists about the problems being faced by growers in the sowing season.

The minister recounted the measures being taken by the Sindh government to develop the agriculture sector and progress of the implementation of 40 new schemes which, he said, would help growers curtail their post-harvest losses.

He announced setting up of “agriculture services centres” were agricultural loans, quality seeds, fertilisers, agricultural machinery and other inputs would be made available. Besides, he said, schemes like crop maximisation and water conservation for irrigation were being implemented.

He also announced initiation of a “control atmosphere project” and said that it would be completed within the next three years.

The project would provide a facility of preserving fresh vegetables and fruits for six months. This would enable growers to ensure due return from their produce, he added.

Mr Shah observed that absence of such facility had been causing growers a 15-20 per cent loss on their post-harvest produce.

This had also been a major factor in soaring prices of various crops, he noted.

“Grow more wheat” drive

The minister said that in order to ensure a good wheat crop, the government would launch “grow more wheat” campaign. He said the target of the campaign was to make sure a bumper crop this season despite all odds, adding that the recent decision to raise wheat procurement prices would definitely persuade farmers to bring maximum possible area under wheat cultivation.

Explaining the odds, Mr Shah said there was a shortage of water in the river system this year. Sindh would get 35 per cent less water in its share, he pointed out, and said that a meeting in this regard was scheduled to held on Tuesday in Islamabad. The matter would be taken up with the federal authorities with a view to find out how to deal with the situation.

In reply to a question, Sabhago Khan Jatoi said that initially the agriculture services centres would be set up at district level. Such centres were being set in Larkana, Nawabshah, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Khairpur and Hyderabad, he said, adding that each district of the province would have one at a lager stage.

He observed that Sindh had a bumper paddy crop this year and would hopefully have even better yield.In the Annual Development Programme 2008-09, an allocation of Rs2,292.500 million was made for 40 development schemes as compared to Rs1,724.777 million —16 per cent less — allocated in the ADP 2007-08.

Responding to another question, he said there had been a shortage of fertilisers in the initial stage of the current sowing season in Sindh but the situation had improved with the import of the commodity. He said that prices of fertilisers and urea had remarkably come down.