ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The government may discuss on Friday the implementation status of conditionalities attached to second tranche of Asian Development Bank (ADB) under agriculture sector reform programme.

An official source told Dawn on Thursday that a meeting in this regard has been convened, which would be attended by representatives of various ministries and relevant stakeholders.

Following the fulfilment of all these conditions attached with the loan, ADB would release $100 million in March 2004. Of the total agriculture sector programme II loan, ADB has released $125 million to Pakistan in September 2002. The third tranche was expected to be released in 2007.

Elaborating the purpose of the loan, the official said that the ADB loan was aimed at promoting growth by improving agriculture productivity and profitability.

He said that the reform programme aims at developing efficient markets for major commodities like wheat, cotton, rice and sugarcane in order to promote market based incentives for small farmers and to liberalize markets for fertiliser and seeds.

It would also help in strengthening support services in small farmer extension and training programmes, and research and regulations to improve quality control.