Ahmed Khan Malik

Sindh’s agricultural economy has witnessed a huge improvement in recent months, offsetting the adverse impacts of the 2022 flood as well as the high cost of inputs caused by the dollar crunch and high inflation, reports WealthPK. The strong performance of the agricultural economy was triggered by the Sindh Agricultural Growth Project (SAGP). Wheat and cotton yields were on the higher side and agricultural financing also recorded growth. “The provincial agricultural economy would be much better in the coming days,” said Imdad Soomro, Director of Sindh Agriculture Department. He explained that the objective of SAGP for Pakistan is to improve productivity and market access of small and medium producers in important commodity value chains. Under this project, new techniques and scientific approaches have been introduced to equip farmers with the latest farming methods. The project comprises three components.

The first component – capacity building and institutional development – will finance capacity building of producers through technology development, technology dissemination, training, and exposure. It includes three sub-components: (i) capacity building of producers; (ii) modernization of extension services and agricultural research; and (iii) strategic planning for the agriculture sector.  The second component – investment for agricultural growth – will finance specific investments in horticulture and dairy value chains and a targeted investment to reduce post-harvest losses among small-holder rice growers. It will also finance a demand-driven innovation fund to support farmers and producers with technology innovations in the selected value chains. It includes four sub-components: (i) horticulture value chains: (ii) rice post-harvest loss management; (iii) dairy value chain; and (iv) demand driven innovation fund.

The third component – project management and monitoring and evaluation – will finance costs for: (i) project management units (PMUs), project coordinator's office, and project implementation units (PIUs); (ii) third party monitoring; (iii) implementation of environment and social management framework (ESMF) and pest management plan (PMP) and development of social assessment; and (iv) rigorous impact evaluation to attribute causality to project interventions. Majority of Pakistan’s second-most populous and agriculture-dependent province of Sindh was declared calamity-hit in August 2022 when torrential monsoon rains hit the province, devastating its agricultural economy.

The Sindh government with the assistance of the federal government and global donor agencies put in place the SAGP to bring the provincial agricultural economy back on track. Sindh is home to over 50 million people and contributes around a quarter of the country’s total agricultural produce. The flood last year ruined the crops and incomes of most farmers. Many of them fell into debt as they often rely on credit at the start of the season to buy seeds, fertilizers, and prepare the land. “The SAGP came to rescue these farmers at this time and helped them grow more this season,” Imdad said.

Credit: INP-WealthPk