Secretary General (Federal) of the Businessmen Panel and Former Chairman FPCCI Standing Committee on Agriculture Produce, Ch Ahmad Jawad said if the incumbent government wants to uplift the agricultural sector and its share in the GDP before ending of the ongoing finance bill of 2019-20, immediately Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) should reduce the prices of the fertilizers, reduce the electricity tariff rate for agriculture sector on the previous rates so that farmers may provide some breathing space.
He expressed concern that cost of production of farmers are going beyond their range. Now it is uncompetitive for local farmers to compete the prices internationally. Jawad said production of wheat, Maize and rice have been drastically down 30% in this year while cotton production have gone down up to 45% and its mainly due to hike of input prices of fertilizers, diesel and electricity tariff rate.
Before tariff of electricity were around Rs 6 per unit and now Rs 15 per unit similarly prices of DAP now at Rs 3800 per bag as before it was Rs 2300 including Urea prices were before Rs 1200 and now it is selling in the market at Rs 2300.
"Pakistan was far ahead of India in almost all sectors of development; particularly in terms of agriculture in the early years of Partition. In the decade after Partition, India began a balanced approach towards rural and urban development by giving due priority to the rural sector and focusing on its infrastructure; electrification; village tube wells; and subsidies on inputs required by small farmers".
Jawad said "initial focus should be on increasing agricultural production and productivity through the intensification, diversification, and commercialization of agriculture based on a sound physical, organisational and institutional infrastructure. Rural development depends on sustained growth as rural income is primarily derived from agriculture and has the capacity to meet the cost of any development programme".
He suggested Modern technology should be introduced for pre- and post-harvest. Such technology should especially be provided to small farmers at their doorsteps. Growth centres should be established for every 10 union councils that should work towards marketing produce and establishing small and medium-sized industries to create jobs for the rural population so they don't have to migrate to cities. Arrangements for setting up agro-based industries through local raw materials should also be prioritized. In addition, the local leadership should be encouraged.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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