Punjab Minister for Agriculture, Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi has said that the agricultural exhibition will prove to be an important milestone for the promotion and development of agriculture in South Punjab.
Speaking after inaugurating a two-day agricultural exhibition organized by the Agriculture Department, Punjab at Dera Ghazi Khan University on Monday, he said that the extraordinary interest of all stakeholders in this exhibition has come in front which is expected to help importers and exporters in business deals.
Hussain Jhania Gardezi said that the exhibition in addition will help in awareness of modern production technology to increase productivity as they can easily communicate with each other to promote their business.
He said the incumbent government was the first in the history of the country which was well aware of that fact that economic goals without agricultural development was not possible. Therefore, the incumbent government, as soon as it came to power, initiated measures for the development of the agricultural sector, declaring it a top priority, he added.
The provincial minister further said that in South Punjab 29 developmental projects worth Rs.10.66 billion were being implemented. Among those projects, Rs. 2 billion was being spent on horizontal land development, Rs. 390 million on corporate farming scheme and Rs.199.7 million for provision of infrastructure for 10 agricultural markets, Rs.185.8 million was being spent on agricultural development projects in Koh-e-Sulaiman and Dera Ghazi Khan and Rs.216 million is being spent on setting up of Cotton Research Substation at Rajanpur. He said that farmers and other stakeholders in South Punjab have shown tremendous interest in this exhibition.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Secretary Agriculture (Marketing) Punjab Waqar Hussain said that around 100 stalls have been set up in this exhibition which has provided a platform to the farmers in addition to awareness of modern production technology.
He said this exhibition will play a positive role in promotion of Agricultural exports in the long run. During the last three years, 5 international exhibitions have been organized which has resulted in a total increase of US 13.5 million in agricultural exports, he added.
The exhibition was attended by MPA Shaheena Najeeb Khosa, Additional Secretary (Planning) Shireen Naz along with other officers and large number of farmers/ stakeholders.
