QUETTA, May 3: The Crop Insurance Policy launched by the federal government and State Bank of Pakistan was benefiting only big landlords as there was no chance for the small growers to get their crops insured under this policy.

Accountant-General of Balochistan Mahfooz Ali Khan while delivering his key note address on Tuesday at a seminar on “Crop Insurance policy in Pakistan”, suggested that participatory policies should be adopted to involve people of Balochistan in decision-making for boosting its agriculture sector.

Provincial Minister for Inter-Provincial Cooperation Dr Ruquiya Hashmi was chief guest while economist Sadiq Baloch and Professor Nadeem Malik spoke on the crop insurance policy.

The seminar was jointly organised by Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) Oxfam GB and European Commission.

Mr Khan said it was a dilemma that the development schemes and projects were launched by the federal and provincial governments ignoring the local people in policy-making process.

He cited the example of Crop Credit Insurance Policy being launched by the task force of the State Bank on the direction of the prime minister had yet not implemented in the province.

“Banking sector is only implementing Credit Crop Insurance Policy in the Punjab province,” Khan said, adding that Balochistan has huge potential in agriculture sector which can be utilised by involving locals in decision-making as they better understand the ground realities.

Mr Khan, who has also served the province as secretary finance for five years, said that from only big land holders were beneficiaries of the crop insurance policy

“The government should encourage microfinance institutions on the pattern of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh to boost the livelihood of small farmers,” he suggested, adding that the current policy would only supporting rich to become richer leaving no chance to change the fate of poor growers across the country particularly in Balochistan.