HYDERABAD, July 24: Sindh Agriculture and Food Minister Arif Mustafa Jatoi has said the government has announced an agricultural package to provide incentives to farmers, including financial assistance , to meet future challenges.

Speaking at a ceremony held at the agriculture engineering workshop, Tandojam, on Friday to inaugurate 12 rehabilitated bulldozers, he said agriculture was the only sector that could meet challenges of the World Trade Organization regime.

The minister said the agriculture sector was improving day by day not only in terms of per acre yield but also in qualitative production.

However, he said there was still a room for improvement and the government would achieve this objective with participation of farmers.

He said in addition to provision of new equipment, the government was concentrating on rehabilitation of discarded bulldozers and tractors and holding workshops for capacity building of agricultural institutions for benefit of farmers. By spending Rs19.2 million on rehabilitation of 12 bulldozers, billions of rupees, required for purchase of new bulldozers, had been saved, he added.

Mr Jatoi stressed the need for efficient use of the bulldozers so that every farmer could get benefit from the scheme.

About the water problem, he said the government had allocated funds to line up watercourses to save water from being wasted and enhance water delivery to growers to increase cropping intensity.

The secretary for agriculture, Sabhago Jatoi, lauded the performance of the Sindh agricultural engineering department that had repaired 15 years old dumped machinery within three months.

He said the government was giving priority to the agriculture sector and had allocated Rs410 million in the 2004-05 Annul Development Programme to boost crop production.

He said there was a need for research on seeds to get maximum per acre yield.

Sindh Agriculture University vice-chancellor Dr Bashir Ahmad Shaikh said the agriculture sector was contributing 24 per cent to the GDP of the country.

He called upon farmers to adopt modern techniques to bring more land under cultivation.

Later, the minister inaugurated the rehabilitation of the 12 bulldozers and distributed letters of appreciation among the staff who had repaired the bulldozers.

LOANS: The adviser to the Sindh chief minister on livestock and fisheries, Faqir Mohammad Jadam Mangrio, has the government will advance loans to farmers and livestock owners at nominal mark-up.

He was speaking at the certificate distribution ceremony of the para-veterinary training course at the Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, on Saturday.

The adviser said the government would provide conveyance, funds and experts for training of farmers.

He said being a livestock owner and a resident of a rural area, he was aware of problems of cattle owners.

He said the rural population was ignorant of latest developments in the livestock sector. He expressed the hope that such training courses would go a long way in creating awareness among the residents.