Ahmed Khan Malik

The Sindh government has chalked out a plan to help farmers boost their production.

“Through this plan, the provincial government will help the farming community financially by providing them agricultural equipment, machinery, tube wells, solar power systems and smart irrigation systems at subsidised rates,” Mumtaz Soomro, coordinator of the project, told WealthPK. He said that the Sindh chief minister was overseeing the plan himself and had also announced his government’s intention to uplift the agriculture economy of the province. Soomro said that farmers would pay only a small share of the total cost of the facilities they would be provided with to help them not only boost their productivity and incomes but also contribute to strengthening the province’s agro-economy. He said that various measures had been taken to boost the agriculture sector, and provision of solar systems for tube wells was one of them to help boost the agricultural productivity.

He said that the chief minister had directed that the financial implications of the project be worked out so that necessary funds could be arranged apart from the allocations made in the current budget.  Soomro said that during the current Kharif season, the rising temperature might have impacted agricultural output, and that helping the farmers in this situation had become necessary.  He said that climate change-induced heavy showers, floods, and rising temperatures had affected the process right from the sowing season to harvesting, and that the provincial government had been carrying out research on the current Kharif season temperature, and its positive and negative impact on the crops so that growers could be guided accordingly. He said that directives had also been issued to the irrigation department to provide water to the growers so that they could grow their crops properly. 

Sindh’s is the second largest economy of Pakistan endowed with many characteristics of a high growth region, including the potential of the agriculture sector. The government of Sindh wants to create an efficient, prosperous and resilient agriculture and livestock sectors that can provide good incomes and decent employment to those involved in production, processing, transport and storage; and at the same time provide safe, nutritious and cheap food to urban and rural populations.  The agriculture sector in Sindh, including livestock and fisheries, has not performed to its potential. Moreover, growth has mainly been the result of higher use of resources and inputs, rather than higher productivity. Low agriculture and livestock yields are also a principal cause of low incomes and high food prices, which make it difficult for the majority of Sindh’s population to afford a nutritious diet.

Credit: INP-WealthPk