KARACHI: Commercial banks should reduce interest rates on agriculture loans for small farmers. The government must subsidise the effort, while ensuring correct implementation of the Sindh Tenancy Act. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was also called upon to monitor loan schemes and ensure transparency.
This was demanded at consultative workshop on the state of agriculture and issues faced by small farmers, jointly organised by Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI), Oxfam and the European Commission at a hotel on Monday.
Addressing the workshop, renowned agriculture expert and former Sindh Irrigation Secretary Idrees Rajput said there is a strong need of restructuring the government loan-providing institutions. Instead of feudal lords being given loans on political basis, small cultivators in genuine need should be provided funding, he added.
“Despite having one of the best irrigation systems in the world, small farmers of Sindh are not being aided by either banks or government institutions,” claimed Rajput. PDI Director Sikander Brohi, while presenting the draft report on agriculture credit for small growers, said there was a strong need to teach small farmers on the best applicable agriculture techniques.
He suggested that the SBP review the price of Produce Index Unit (PIU) of the land and increase it. “In case of credit for purchase of inputs, the per-acre limit should also be improved,” he added. He suggested that the revenue department should reserve one day in a week for meetings with officials concerned with crediting banks to finalise and approve the cultivators’ loan documents.
He indicated that the PDI, in collaboration with Oxfam and European Commission, was conducting a study on small farmers in Sanghar and Dadu districts in Sindh and Mussa Khel district in Balochistan.
Presenting the study draft, Oxfam Program Officer Sumayia Sajjad said the role of middlemen must be abolished if the material condition of small farmers is to be raised as well as ensuring small landholders direct access to markets.
“The banks should recruit qualified mobile credit officers and adopt a transparent land-record policy system accessible to farmers. The banking system and the land tenancy acts should be reviewed and properly implemented,” she said. There is a need to undertake institutional reforms to revitalise research and extension services, which are conspicuously absent and non-functional, she added.
“The government needs to ensure prompt and easy availability of agricultural inputs,” she insisted, adding that crop insurance models need to be researched to ensure that small farmers have a sustainable income stream.
Oxfam GB Programme Manager Land Rights and Economics Opportunities Fatima Naqvi, National Bank of Pakistan Agriculture Finance Officer Ayaz Ali Baloch, Mohammad Azam Channa of Sindh Agriculture Department, Agriculture Department Extension Mohammad Achar Kario, Sindh Seed Cooperation Director General Shafiq Ahmed Meshar and others also spoke on the occasion.
