THE Sindh government’s move to set up an Agricultural Development Board is aimed at revamping provincial agriculture by removing its structural flaws and accelerating its growth to exploit emerging food export opportunities.

“The board has been set up with a futuristic approach,” says a senior official of the Sindh government, referring to one of the terms of reference that talks about planning “for promoting agricultural trade through connecting points of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.”

“There is no question of outsourcing the functions of the provincial agriculture department. There’s no pruning in the powers of the department. No sharing of its responsibilities.”

The board, according to the officials, would rather be a great support to agriculture department in discharging its responsibilities. Its composition is such that all kinds of issues of the agriculture sector can be discussed thoroughly at the board’s platform and immediate responses can be obtained from the decision makers and the stakeholders. The purpose is to cut through the red tape in informed decision making and effective implementation, they say.

The 27-member board is headed by the provincial minister for agriculture, supply and prices. The director of the World Bank-assisted Sindh Agriculture Growth Project will act as secretary to the board.


“Whereas the board has been constituted, no fact-finding exercise has been initiated to first look into why multi-billion rupees agricultural schemes, announced year after year, failed to achieve full results”


“We want to make sure that all the stakeholders and officials whose role is crucial sit under and decide what must be done and how, for putting agriculture on the path of sustainable growth. That’s the purpose of the board,” insists a senior official.

The Agricultural Development Board is just one of the several independent boards that the Sindh government has decided to set up to promote various sectors of the provincial economy and governance, senior officials in Sindh government say.

“That’s why you don’t see livestock and fisheries representation on the agricultural board,” one official said hinting that a similar board would be set up for livestock and fisheries.

Officials say that the purpose of creating independent boards is to get rid of the inefficiencies that have crept in, over the years, in provincial departments dealing with the economy.

“We have even hired a renowned economist to calculate provincial GDP under a joint project with one of the multilateral agencies and we’re even considering setting up a planning and development board,” says a source in the office of the chief secretary.

“We believe that in this phase of CPEC-spurred economic growth there is plenty for Sindh to benefit from but for that we need to put our administrative house in order.”

What makes this point obvious is the all-encompassing terms of reference (TORs) one of which says that the board will prepare yearly Provincial Agriculture Policy, strengthen agro-processing industry and related marketing functions and explore new international markets for export of the province’s agricultural products.

Another TOR says that the board will also explore possibilities for promoting agricultural trade through connecting points of the CPEC. Yet another TOR gives the board the mandate to evolve coordination mechanism between agriculture department and other organisations at provincial, federal and international levels.

The Agricultural Development Board ‘will establish agro-processing industries and agro SMEs near the hub of agricultural products clusters’. Besides, it will also ‘develop liaison with concerned foreign donor agencies to pool all relevant knowledge and resources, foster interaction and communication and provide high-tech training to growers and agricultural research and extension staff’. And, it will also ‘organise international exposure visits and…exhibitions in various countries with the assistance of TDAP’.

Some officials of Sindh agriculture department don’t appear to be happy with the idea of setting up an independent board to frame policies and oversee their implementation. “We fear that the board will use its powers to outsource some assignments of crucial nature to NGOs of their choice in the name of hiring expert advice and action” one such official said.

He said the TORs of the board are so wide-ranging that nothing seems to have been left for the agriculture department except for record-keeping and acting as a back office of the board.

The remaining members include, Sindh agriculture secretary; irrigation secretary; vice-chancellor of Sindh Agriculture University, directors general of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Agriculture Extension Sindh, Agriculture Research Sindh, Agricultural Engineering and Water Management Sindh and Sindh Enterprise Development Fund; chief agriculturist at Sindh Planning and Development Department; managing director of the Sindh Seed Corporation, director of Agriculture Credit Division, State Bank of Pakistan, director-general of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council of Pakistan, Southern Zone, vice chairman of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, presidents of Sindh Abadgar Board, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, All Pakistan Sugar Mills’ Association, Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association, Pakistan Textile Mills’ Association, Sindh Zone, Rice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan, Sindh Zone, Fruits and Vegetables Exporters’ Association, representatives of fertiliser companies, pesticide companies and seed companies, and agro processing companies in the province.

“Whereas the board has been constituted, no fact finding exercise has been initiated to first look into why multi-billion rupees agricultural schemes, announced year after year, failed to achieve full results.”

Senior officials of agriculture department, however, admit that lack of the right-man-for-the-right-job culture has nurtured inefficiencies and an over-hauling of the department is due.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, February 6th, 2017

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