The government has decided to give subsidy on seeds of wheat worth PKR 5 billion to farmers who belong to Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The subsidy will be provided by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

According to the food security commissioner of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Dr Imtiaz Ali Gopang, the initiative to provide subsidy is being undertaken to relieve the pressure from farmers who have been hit the worst by the recent floods. “These floods have damaged the standing crops and destroyed infrastructure. Therefore, it is important that government rescue these farmers in any way that it can. This subsidy is given for that reason primarily,” he said.

He was talking to journalists when he made these comments about the subsidy here on Thursday. The approval of the subsidy will be given by the Prime Minister, he said. “The Ministry of Food Security has already prepared the draft of the proposal to provide the subsidy. It will be presented before the cabinet in due time,” he said.

“About 25% of the total available certified seeds will be provided to farmers of about 11 districts in various provinces. The provision of the seeds will help to revive the agriculture sector especially the wheat crop after the devastation caused by the floods. This will also help to improve the conditions of food security in the country,” he said.

“Seeds will be provided to farmers in accordance with the level of vulnerability. Currently, the ministry has identified 07 districts of Sindh, and two districts of Punjab and KPK, each, as vulnerable. In accordance with the threat level efforts are underway to make the land ready for sowing. Because of the moisture and water in the soil, it becomes easy to bring more and more area under cultivation,” he continued.

He further said that “the Rabi crop comprises of 85% wheat crop. This is the reason that the government is fully committed to bringing maximum area under cultivation of the wheat crop.”

“The government will also provide incentives for other crops of the season to be sown in these floods-affected areas including oil seeds, pulses and other minor crops in order to rehabilitate the agricultural land enhancing farm income of the growers,” he said.

“In order to develop the agricultural sector,” he said, “the government is planning to organize a Kissan conference. In that conference, ways and means to improve the agricultural sector will be discussed by taking input from all the farmers of all regions,” he said.

He said that the said conference will be attended by the small and large landholders, progressive farmers, members of academia, policymakers, agriculture scientist and researchers. “Students will also be invited since young people are always full of new ideas. The government will also be represented at the conference to make the policy imperatives easy for the people to understand,” he said.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk