Staff Reporter
Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht on Monday claimed that the World Bank has expressed satisfaction over the progress made on the ongoing bank funded Agriculture SMART program and has proposed to extend its scope and completion period by two years.
Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht disclosed in a meeting of the cabinet committee on Agriculture Smart Program held with him in the chair in the Committee Room of the Finance Department on Monday.
The meeting was attended by Punjab Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari, Provincial Minister for Livestock Hasnain Bahadur Dareshk, Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, Secretary Finance Iftikhar Ali Sahoo, Secretary Planning and Development Mujahid Sher Dil and secretaries of relevant departments.
The Punjab government has been ensuring the capacity building of agricultural markets and implementation of the Rural Development Program in collaboration with the World Bank for the last five years under the Agriculture Smart Program.
The meeting has also discussed the concerns and recommendations of the concerned departments on the suggestions of the World Bank to amend some targets of the program.
The provincial finance minister directed the secretary planning and development board to review the indicators related to payments under the smart program.
He asked submission of the plan to achieve profitable goals by abandoning targets which are irrelevant and release the funds for the achievable targets.
This will speed up and improve performance on program which was delayed due to lack of funds.
Further, he mentioned that the Punjab government was moving towards targeted subsidies to increase the purchasing power of low-income people.
In the agricultural sector, increasing wheat production and reducing the price of flour is the top priority of the Punjab government.
The minister stressed the need for proper planning for reforms in the wheat market.
For this purpose, reasonable estimates were also sought for the provision of additional funds from the agriculture department.
The meeting also discussed the proposal to use the Bank of Punjab scheme to make the proposed program for providing incentives to farmers.
