ISLAMABAD, March 25: Parliamentary Secretary for Food and Agriculture Rajab Ali Baloch told the National Assembly on Thursday that the general sales tax on the agriculture inputs could not be withdrawn because of the IMF conditions which Pakistan was obliged to follow under the poverty reduction growth facility (PRGF).

Replying to supplementary questions during the question hour, Mr Baloch said the government could neither withdraw the GST nor could it extend subsidies to the agricultural inputs.

However, Mr Baloch said, he would encourage the members to submit proposals for the improvement of the agriculture situation. He informed the house that because of increase in the prices of fertilizer phosphate (DAP) from Rs834 to Rs930 per bag during October-November 2003 and freight rates in the international market, the prices of DAP fertilizer had gone up.

The government would encourage investment for the setting up of facilities to produce DAP fertilizer in the country, he said, adding that the country otherwise was self-sufficient in the local production of urea fertilizers.

At present, fertilizer business was being handled by the private sector, he said and added that the government had provided some relief by adjusting sales taxes on deemed prices.

Mr Baloch brushed aside the impression that the government was considering a proposal to provide DAP fertilizer free of cost to the farmers, saying the government didn't have that much resources for the purpose.

The government, he said, had no role to play except to monitor the supply of fertilizer. Similarly, there was no proposal under consideration to provide diesel for tractors on subsidized rates to the farmers.

Under the market economy system, the prices of diesel/fuel prices had been deregulated and any intervention through subsidy would distort the market mechanism leading to malpractices.

In reply to a question, Mr Baloch said, 24 permits had been issued for the export of 10,300 cattle/buffalo and 152 camels. According to the Animal Quarantine Department, Karachi, 590 sheep and goats, 99 bulls and buffaloes, 1,558 cattle, 33 calves, 66 camels and 16 baby camels were exported from August 2003 to February 2004.

Referring to the animal population in the country, the parliamentary secretary quoted the statistics for the year 2002-03, and said the total population of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and camel was 126.3 million.