Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik Tuesday called for executing the second phase of the command area expansion programme and water conservation in rainy areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, prior to opting for next phase of national programme or improvement of waterways in country.
He said maximum resources and effective measures should be employed to achieve the targets and goals and added there should be no delay in the timely completion of these projects.
He said thta the Ministry of Food Security and Research would provide maximum support and assistance in this regard.
Highlighting the main features, he gave a briefing on the National Programme for the Improvement of Waterways in Pakistan, Phase II, Command Area Expansion Program in Rainy Areas and Water Conservation in Rainy Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on behalf of the Federal Water Management Cell.
Director General Federal Water Management and National Project Coordinator Mohammad Asif Kakar were also present on the occasion.
Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Dr. Kausar Abdullah Malik, informed that the total cost of the three projects under the Federal Ministry of Food Security and Research and the provincial governments was 194.066 billion rupees.
The federal government has Rs 61.624 billion rupees (32 per cent), all provinces except Sindh along with Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have 76.227 billion rupees (39 percent), while farmers have a share of 56.214 billion rupees (29 per cent).
He said Projects will reduce losses from transportation and field application, reduce salinity in water, equity in water distribution, reduce water conflicts, theft and litigation, encourage farmers, reduce poverty by creating employment opportunities, and increase crop production. The federal minister said that by developing the land and water resources with modern irrigation methods, the productivity of the crop will be increased, while bringing out the capabilities of the farmers in the rain-field areas.
Later, a detailed briefing was given to the Federal Minister for Conservation and Research regarding the pilot (shrimp) farming cluster development project, the promotion of trout farming in the northern areas of the country and the cage culture cluster development projects.
Federal Minister Dr Abdullah Kowsar Malik said that a detailed business plan should be prepared regarding fish and especially shrimp because the land which cannot produce anything, can produce shrimp. He said that special attention should be given to the fish processing plant.—APP
