Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Wednesday directed the concerned authorities to devise proposals to bring down the cost of inputs to improve per acre agriculture yield and profitability.
The prime minister also directed the ministry of national food security to initiate measures to attract investment in high-tech seed industry and inquired about any legislation in this regard. He was chairing a high-level meeting with representatives of agriculture sector at the prime minister house.
The prime minister directed to develop standards for use of agricultural machinery to improve their efficiency. The provincial governments were directed to initiate process for implementation of the recommendations of the agriculture forum, said a press release of the PM House.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Commerce Engineer Khurram Dastagir, Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister for National Food Security Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and Advisor to PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, federal secretary national food security and secretaries of agriculture from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The meeting deliberated on issues and problems faced by the peasants and agriculture sector in the wake of downward trends in the international commodity markets which had impacts on the domestic agricultural commodity market. Surplus stocks of agricultural products in international and domestic markets have put pressure on the support price mechanism and profitability of the agricultural production.
