Though no budget can appease all segments of society, as one man’s meat is another’s poison, the policymakers have at least rectified their direction as far as the allocations made for agriculture in the budget 2023-24 are concerned.
Increasing the bank loan allocation and targeting young farmers for the purpose, subsidising import of seed, solarisation of agriculture tube-wells and farm machinery, and introducing agro-industry close to villages are the steps announced in the budget that could only be admired.
However, the sector watchers mention a word of caution: as most of these measures want a proactive role of provincial governments during implementation, therefore it will be too early to pin one’s hopes for their success.
Enhancing the farm loans allocation from Rs1.8 trillion to Rs2.25tr is a welcome step, but it is yet to be seen how the government and the State Bank of Pakistan ensure that these loans are disbursed, particularly among the smallholders, who are in dire need of capital at the sowing of each crop.
Young farmers usually don’t own lands, and banks do not accept the pass-books of their fathers
As per the past practice, commercial banks have been offering loans only to big landlords or agro-based industries, denying the small farmers of their share in the financial resources.
Saima Zia of Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee wonders what plans the government has up its sleeves while imagining loans for young farmers because they usually don’t own lands, and banking authorities will not accept the pass-books of their fathers.
The step of withdrawing all taxes and duties on imported seeds will require that the provincial governments proactively monitor whether the importers/seed companies are transferring this benefit to the farmers or not.
Likewise, provincial authorities will have a major role in ensuring that the compost is available at a controlled rate so that the Rs6 billion subsidy on imported urea fertiliser reaches the farming community. In this regard, they may benefit from the dashboard established by the Punjab food department to control rates of sugar.
The scheme for converting 50,000 electricity- and diesel-run farm tube wells to solar technology may be further improved by connecting them with the national grid through net metering.
Fouad Bajwa, administrative of Digital Dera, an initiative to digitalise the agriculture sector by providing a community internet network to local farmers in remote south Punjab, asserts that it will also divert the farmers’ focus from extracting just water to selling power and thus help save the over-extraction of subsoil commodity.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 12th, 2023
