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Water resources to be
improved to boost farm output
ISLAMABAD -A medium-term plan for
radically augmenting water resources is being undertaken for
sustainable development of agriculture sector in the country.
According to official sources, the plan envisages an
additional storage capacity at 4.5 MAF of water and nearly a
million acres of land will be brought under cultivation and
thousands of jobs will be created during construction of these
schemes.
The agriculture is the most important sector among the four
sectors the present government has selected for leading the
process of economic growth.
Pakistan has been 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.
The growers are facing problems of price uncertainty and poor
marketing methods, narrow export base of agriculture
value-added largely confined to crop sector and limited supply
of credit compared to actual needs.
These challenges are formidable but our survival depends on
our ability to create a dynamic and vibrant agriculture
sector, which is the main source of export-led economic
growth.
A package of financial assistance for farmers has been drawn
with the help of all the public sector financial institutions
to provide funding for water conservation and development
schemes by introducing new means of irrigation and extending
loans for installation of tube-wells, open wells desilting and
brick-lining for water channels, precision land levelling,
drip irrigation system and construction of mini dams.
Furthermore, 10,000 tube-wells will be installed in the
provinces to increase the availability of water at farm level.
Besides, the government has designed a new policy for
corporate agriculture to give a big push to agriculture
farming.
The government will be distributing land to the land-less
farmers as a measure toward their empowerment. On the
directive of the Chief Executive, 92,792 acres in Sindh and
Balochistan have so far been distributed among 9601 land-less
farmers.
courtesy Daily
Business Recorder ,
23
April, 2002
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