The
budget speech and the Agriculture sector
An overview
The
budget speech of federal
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz
revealed various steps taken by the government regarding the agriculture
sector for the year 2001-2002.
Under
the head of Economic Review, the minister said: As you are
aware, the Economic Survey, published by the Ministry of
Finance, has been issued a couple of days ago, giving complete
details of the performance of the economy during the year.
Accordingly, I would not want to take your time in repeating
the details of the Survey. What I would like to highlight,
however, are four important aspects of the economy:
Agriculture
is the most important sector among the four sectors the
government has selected for leading the process of economic
growth. Pakistan is endowed with an immensely productive
agrarian base, but its harnessing on a sustainable basis has
always remained a distant dream. The vulnerabilities to which agriculture
is exposed, was only brought to sharper focus in the wake of
recent drought. There are essentially four challenges our agriculture
sector is facing:
These
challenges are formidable, but we have to face them squarely
for our survival depends on our ability to create a dynamic
and vibrant agriculture
sector, which is the main source of export-led economic
growth. The following key measures in the agriculture
sector have been taken to improve its performance and give it
a new orientation:
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