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LAHORE, Sep 30 (APP):Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani has said that Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif is taking priority steps for the prosperity of farmers and agricultural development.
During a meeting with the delegation of Pakistan Kisan Ittehad, here on Monday, the minister said that the deterioration in Agriculture sector was due to the failed policies of the previous governments. The government has allocated a huge amount of 64 billion rupees for the development budget of agriculture, which is 250 percent more than the previous financial year, he said.
The minister said that the unprecedented measures and mega projects that the present government has initiated for the development of agriculture in the short period of the last six months cannot be exampled in the past. The Chief Minister Punjab has launched the mega projects of Kissan Card, Green Tractor Scheme, Solarization of Tube wells to get rid of the high cost of electricity and diesel and provide interest-free agricultural loans under the Transforming Punjab Agriculture Programme, he added.
Kirmani said that according to the vision of the Chief Minister Punjab, practical measures are being taken for the provision of quality seeds, agricultural marketing and reducing the production cost of the farmers for development in agriculture sector.
On this occasion, President of Pakistan Kissan Ittehad Khalid Khokhar informed the minister about the problems faced by the farmers. He said that due to climate change, the agriculture sector is facing a crisis and this year the farmers have faced losses in cotton, rice, mango and sesame crops due to which they are suffering from economic crisis. In this regard, the federal government may be approached and requested to approve the collection of farmers’ bills in installments, he said and added that apart from this, the government should provide support to the farmers to reduce the cost of production and reduce the prices of agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers, so that the farmers can cultivate the next crop of wheat.
On this occasion, Minister Kirmani assured to solve the legitimate problems of the farmers and in this regard, the Chief Minister Punjab will soon contact the federal government to solve the legitimate problems of the farmers. He further endorsed that the objective of Agriculture Department and Farmer’s Organizations is the improvement and development of agriculture for which both have to work together.
Secretary Agriculture Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Director General Agricultural Information Punjab Naveed Asmat Kahloon along with Provincial President Kisan Ittehad Chaudhry Rizwan Iqbal, Central General Secretary Ehsan Akram and Central Leader Mustafa Watto and other representatives participated in the meeting.