QUETTA, Sep 05 (APP):Pakistan Business Forum (PBF)’s Balochistan Chairman Engr. Daroo Khan Achakzai said that Pakistan’s economic progress and development have been primarily dependent on its agriculture sector and effective reform of the agriculture sector is urgently required.
As the country’s largest province by area, Balochistan holds unique opportunities to improve the country’s economic prospects, he expressed these views while talking to APP here on Tueseday..
PBF Balochistan Chairman, Engr. Daroo Khan Achakzai stated that tourism is central to the economy of southern Balochistan where clean, eye-catching beaches have not been explored fully.
The province has a coastline 750 kilometers long. Fishing is a good source of income for the people who dwell in this part of the province. According to recent estimations, fishery resources have a value of over $1 billion, he maintained.
He said that then there are beautiful date gardens in the Makran division, i.e., Gwadar, Kech and Panjgur, the only modern date-processing plant in Pakistan is situated in Panjgur adding that several types of dates produced and processed here are exported to domestic and international markets.
Pakistan’s largest natural gas reserves are also in Balochistan. These account for more than 50 percent of the country’s total reserves.
The Sui gas field has been producing gas to the country since 1952. Reko Diq and Saindak are rich in mineral wealth, he said.
He said that the deep-sea port is being developed at Gwadar is the pivot around which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) revolves, the plains in Nasirabad division feature rice and wheat fields.
The northern part of Balochistan grows plentiful fruits. Apples, grapes, pomegranates, cherries and watermelons of high quality produced here are sold across the country, he explained.
He said that the province produces 85 percent of the country’s grapes, Balochistan has the potential to produce 25 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables annually, despite helping the farmers improve their productivity can help boost the economy.
Daroo khan said it’s unfortunate that Balochistan’s economy is the least developed among the country’s four provinces. Since the start of the 21st Century, the contribution of the agriculture sector has been in constant decline in the country in general and in the province in particular, several reasons can be identified for this decline.
Most of the farmers in Balochistan use water extracted from tube wells as the primary source for watering their fields or gardens. Power outages and load shedding disrupt the irrigation and make meeting the water needs harder, he said.
