Staff Reporter Peshawar
KP cabinet in an unprecedented move on Wednesday approved the first “Food Protection Policy” and Rs 300 million subsidy on fertilizers, said KP government spokesman Kamran Bangash here.
Addressing a press conference, he said that for the first time in the history of the country any government had passed a food protection policy, adding that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had directed the concerned quarters to keep him updated on the policy on a monthly basis.
Bangash said that under the policy agricultural land would be protected from being converted to societies or other commercial purposes, while the policy would be linked with major water reservoirs.
He said that the government has already issued Kisan Card to 600,000 farmers in the province, adding that under the first phase of Kisan Card scheme, farmers database would be improved and targeted subsidies for machineries and inputs etc would be provided to the farmers.
In the second phase of the scheme the farmers would be provided with different facilities including provision of interest free/ low markup loans, crop insurance and any other financial assistance in respect of natural calamities.
He said the provincial government was paying special attention to the development of the agriculture sector in line with the vision and directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
For the first time in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government has increased the annual budget of the agriculture sector from Rs 700 million to Rs 8 billion.
He said due to effective policies and provision of subsidies to the farmers, the wheat production increased 1.6 million tons from 1.1 million tons in one year.
