ISLAMABAD: Sindh still stays away from the Prime Minister’s National Agriculture Emergency Programme, and Jahangir Khan Tareen, a close confidant of Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Tuesday asked the provincial government to become part of the programme for the sake of the country and the agricultural sector.

The federal government has kept an allocation of close to Rs18 billion for the development of agriculture in Sindh. The provincial government should set aside politics and join the programme, Mr Tareen said while addressing a press conference along with Minister for National Food Security and Research Mahboob Sultan and the provincial agriculture ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Sindh government has not made a decision yet on whether or not it will participate in the programme.

Agriculture was of national importance and needed immediate attention, Mr Tareen said. Participation by Sindh could uplift the agriculture economy, he said, adding that he would request the province to join hands to boost agriculture in the country.

PTI leader claims rise in sugar price is going to benefit govt, not any particular sugar mill

When a journalist asked about his capacity to speak on government policies, Mr Tareen said he used to give advice to the government whenever asked. However, he avoided responding to another question in what capacity he was addressing the press conference.

Responding to a question, Mr Tareen explained that the rise in the sugar price was not going to benefit any particular sugar mill. In fact, he added, it was the increased tax on this commodity that would go to the government.

Mr Sultan and the two provincial agriculture ministers were all praise for Mr Tareen in guiding to formulate the national agriculture emergency programme.

The ‘National Agriculture Emergency Programme’ has been revised and Mr Tareen said that the entire programme consisting of 16 projects across five areas would cost Rs309.7bn, and the Executive Commit­tee of National Economic Council would approve the projects this month.

Originally, the programme intended to spend Rs290bn over the next five years to boost the agriculture sector in 10 areas. However, the details of the programme announced by Mr Tareen are composed of 16 projects.

According to the presentation document prepared by the office of the national agriculture emergency programme at the Prime Minister Office, “this is one of the largest consolidated efforts on agriculture by any government in Pakistan’s history and is a flagship programme of the PTI government, the size of which will grow beyond the Rs309bn mark in the coming years”.

Mr Tareen explained that Rs44.8bn with the federal government share of Rs7.4bn would be spent to dramatically increase yields of major crops and boost adoption of oilseeds. At present, the yield gap per acre between progressive and ordinary farmers is nearly double. This exists due to a lack of ‘capital for mechanisation’, ‘knowledge of modern techniques’, ‘timely formal credit’ and ‘assured marketability at harvest time’.

In the area of wheat, an amount of Rs19.3bn, including federal share of Rs2.47bn, has been earmarked, and the project will help increase average yield from 33 to 40 maunds per acre to produce excess wheat for export without compromising on food security. The government would free up 1.5 to 2 million acres of land for more productive crops, he said.

Mr Tareen listed details of all the 16 projects and said that given the same water and area, Pakistan had the potential to drastically increase aggregate production of major crops by increasing productivity.

The sugarcane project will cost Rs3.9bn, including federal share of Rs0.7bn, and is aimed at increasing yield by 150 maunds per acre from 650 to 800 maunds. The objective is to increase productivity to export sugar without subsidy.

“We will replicate and improve the project in the second phase, and the government will line up to 50 per cent of total length of 73,078 watercourses inclusive of 13,875 water storage tanks. In addition, the government will subsidise additional 12,110 laser levellers,” he said.

Mr Tareen also mentioned command area development of the Gomal Zam dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Katchi canal in Balochistan.

The Punjab agriculture minister said that the provincial government would establish four new private markets by 2022 in Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Hafizabad and Rawalpindi.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd , 2019