Caretaker Minister for Food Security and Research Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik on Thursday called for removing all the obstacles in agricultural development projects on priority basis to complete them within the given time frame to harvest their full potential.
The minister chaired a meeting, in which he was briefed in detailed regarding the measures taken to increase the national average production of wheat, rice, and sugarcane to achieve sustainable agriculture growth and economic development.
Chairman Pakistan Agriculture Research Council Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Project Director wheat Dr Muhammad Yaqub, Project Director Rice Dr Ashiq Rabbani and Dr Sagheer Ahmed, National Coordinator also presented in the meeting.
It was told that the Prime Ministerial Agriculture Emergency Program was launched in 2019 with a cost of Rs 15.789 billion, adding that the share of the federal government was at Rs 3.750 billion, the provincial governments Rs 7.56 billion, while Rs 4.47 billion was the farmer’s share.
The minister was informed that 4 million tons of sugarcane production capacity had been increased, which had a financial benefit of Rs 400 billion, whereas the production capacity of wheat had increased from 28 to 32 maunds per acre, adding that the wheat enhancement project was initiated with a cost of Rs 30,455.353 million to increase the production capacity of wheat and reduce the production gap.
Regarding the progress on the wheat production enhancement program, the minister was apprised that so far about 463 comparisons had been established, 1,333 units of machinery were purchased, whereas 21,987 plots were identified and herbal medicines worth Rs 11 million were purchased.—APP
