HYDERABAD, May 7: The vice president, Sindh Abadgar Board, Mr Gada Hussain Mahessar has appealed to the President and Prime Minister to appoint two separate commissions of experts for the improvement of agriculture and industrial sectors. In a statement faxed to Dawn here on Friday, he said that agriculture sector was the backbone of country’s economy and 7 per cent of its population was directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture.

Mr Mahessar, who is also the president of Sindh-Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association, said that Pakistan had the best irrigation system in the world, it had rich agricultural land, yet we were spending billions of rupees on importing edible oil, wheat and pulses.

He said that even meat and vegetables would now be imported from the neighbouring country.

He regretted that instead of diagnosing the disease, which has afflicted the agriculture, we are abandoning it to its own fate. He said that the Prime Minister was an economic expert, therefore, he should try to diagnose the disease and prescribe proper treatment.

He reminded the government that in the past the country had not only attained autarky in wheat but it was also self-sufficient in pulses, sugar, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk and other agricultural items.

He identified the incompetence of the agriculture department, corruption, inordinate increase in the prices of agricultural machinery, petrol, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, adulteration in agricultural inputs and lawlessness as the main diseases which had afflicted the agriculture sector.

Mr Mahessar said that unfortunately no effective agricultural policy had ever been formulated and added that the bureaucracy did not want to see any increase in the crop production as it would be deprived of huge commissions on imports.

He said due to WTO regime, all the other countries were providing subsidy and incentives to the growers but in Pakistan the most important sector of our economy was being ignored.

He said, in addition to this, lawlessness has inflicted a telling blow to agriculture and industrial sectors so much so that no investor is prepared to set up any industry in interior of Sindh.

He appealed to the President and the Prime Minister to appoint two separate commissions of experts to suggest ways and means for the improvement of agriculture and industrial sectors and implement their recommendations in letter and spirit.