Pakistani agricultural contribution less than its potential, session briefs PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan convened Monday a session on agricultural revival and reforms noting that agricultural produce contributed less than its potential in the overall production of the country, ARY News reported.

The harvests of wheat, rice, corn, cotton, and sugarcane have been low compared with that of the region, the Premier was told in the session, adding that with effective strategy and reforms to aid the farmers, the production can increase.

Agricultural production can grow upto US$ 74 billion by the year 2031 if reforms are introduced now, the session briefing said. It may be noted that in the passing year, total agricultural production realized to be US$ 49 billion out of which a principal chunk was that of livestock, followed by produce of agricultural fields.

Out of total, US$39 billion was livestock share, US$ 17 billion was that of agricultural harvest, and US$ 1 billion was fisheries, the briefing noted.

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In the past 20 years, there has been no reform application in the agriculture industry which could help the sector flourish up to its potential, the session told PM.

In a comparison with neighbor India, the session was briefed, gross production of wheat and rice in Pakistan remained 29 maunds, and 50 maunds per hectare, while in India it was 51 and 64 maunds/ha respectively.

Similarly, for sugarcane, Pakistan noted 656 maunds/ha production which in India’s case was 796 maunds/ha.

The session today was attended by federal ministers and senior port folios including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Khusro Bakhtiyar, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Syed Fakhar Imam, while chief ministers of Punjab and KP and special assistants were also present.

The session was also told that at present, Pakistani farmers availed US$ 140/ha agri-credit which was US$ 369 in India, US$ 192 in the US, and US$ 628 in China. In terms of subsidy, too, our farmers are afforded less, which is US$ 27/hectare, compared with others in the region.