Punjab Agriculture Minister Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh has said that provincial government is actively pursuing the sustainable and consistent growth of agriculture sector and a number of measures have already been taken in this regard. Addressing the International Agriculture, Livestock, Industry and Food (ALIF) Conference held under the aegis of Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP) in connection with World Food Day, the minister said that ample funds had been provided to research-related institutions to improve the overall situation of agriculture sector.
During the last three years, he pointed out, production of important crops, including wheat and rice, had substantially increased. Wheat production had reached up to 19 million tonnes and 0.9 million tonnes wheat had also been exported. He said that Punjab Seed Council and Punjab Agriculture Research Board were engaged in demand-driven research to increase production and protection of crops and in order to increase the pace of agricultural research, Punjab Agriculture Research Board had been provided Rs1 billion. Aulakh further stated that the under Green Tractor Schemes, 200,000 tractors had been provided to the farmers on subsidised rates.
Agriculture minister said that provision of agricultural inputs was the responsibility of the federal government and due to federal government’s apathy, the price of urea fertiliser had reached up to Rs2,000 per bag. He further said that the ministry of industries should take notice of rise in urea prices and effective measures should be taken to control it. Earlier, the agriculture minister inaugurated the FAP-ALIF Expo and visited various stalls set up by the agriculture-related companies. He observed that such events are the need of hour which can play a vital role in the growth of agriculture sector. FAP Vice-Chairman Hussain Jahanian Gardezi and President Tariq Bucha were also present on the occasion.
