Pb agri policy to address issues of farmers: Balighur Rehman

BAHAWALPUR, Dec 4 (APP): State Minister for Education and Professional Training Balighur Rehman on Sunday said the Punjab
government’s initiative of formulating an elaborative agriculture policy would not only help to redress the issues of farming community but also ensure food security across country.
Addressing a seminar on Punjab Agriculture Policy arranged by University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) here, he said the PML N government had initiated special Kissan package for providing maximum relief to farming community.
He said the government was setting up a livestock university  in Bahawalpur that would help provide a trained manpower in the area, adding that research on the livestock should be carried out to explore it.
The minister said that education was top priority of government and it had doubled the education budget to Rs 91 billion, he added.
About water reservoirs, he said the government was taking effective measures to build the new reserves including Bhasha dam, Dasu dam and others. The power load shedding would be ended till 2018, he maintained.
Addressing at the occasion, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar A Khan said the agriculture policy would focus on land and water reservation, yield gap, diversification, post harvest losses, market issues, and value addition.
Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture Multan (MNS UAM)
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asif Ali said that agriculture sector was directly linked to the poverty alleviation, adding that it was a matter of concern that the fertile agricultural land was being converted to the residential colonies.
He said the agriculture policy was a hallmark step that would bring prosperity in the agriculture sector. He also lauded the efforts, made by the government to uplift the sector.
IUB Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Qaiser Mushtaq, farmers including Malik Habib Ullah, Azhar Shiekh, Abdul Rahman Fahim and others also
spoke on the occasion.