LAHORE, Dec 7: Acting President Mohammedmian Soomro says the dispute is not over the need for new reservoirs but on sharing of water. "Once a certain comfort level among provinces is achieved, there should not be any problem," he was responding to newsmen's questions after presiding over the concluding session of the Punjab Agri Business Conference here on Tuesday.

Soomro said the government had to look at alternative methods of irrigation like drip and sprinkle for saving water in addition to building new reservoirs. He the government was already spending Rs66 billion on the lining of watercourses for making irrigation more efficient.

About the MMA protest against uniform, Soomro said their campaign had not affected the parliament and both houses were working smoothly. He said the alliance had a right to protest but it had to be within certain limits.

Earlier, at the thinly populated conference in which media men and organizers outnumbered the participants, he said farmers should form cooperatives at the national level to give uniformity to their voices, which would certainly be better heard.

The banks have massive liquidity but they did not rely on agriculture collateral. They should have confidence that their collateral was realisable before they lend money. National level cooperatives would be better placed to build banks' confidence.

He said the agriculture sector needed over Rs250 billion whereas it only got around Rs50 billion. Banks could reduce the gap if they were confident of recovery, he added.

Mr Somroo said the government was fully convinced that business and agriculture were backbone of economy and it has to develop them in order to grow in a challenging times. Barriers were coming down and new opportunities were being created both in business and agriculture.

The government knew that no economy has grown without properly educated population, cost-effective business and market. It was working on all three areas to keep the country competitive in the comity of nations, he claimed.

He assured the businessmen that the government would always be there to support them and listed areas where they could invest money and make sound profits. Earlier, Punjab Agriculture Minister Arshad Lodhi welcomed the guests and threw light on purpose of the conference.