Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a joint meeting of the agriculture and irrigation departments said that he has allocated Rs8 billion in the budget for the development of the agriculture sector through Benazir Hari Card.

“The Rabi season is starting; therefore, the growers be incentivised so that they could grow wheat as a bumper crop apart from other Rabi crops.”

The meeting was held here at CM House on Tuesday. It was attended by Minister P&D Nasir Shah, Minister Agriculture Mohammad Bux Mahar, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Chairman P&D Najam Shah, Secretary Agriculture Rafiq Buriro, Secretary Finance Fayaz Jatoi and Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh. Minister Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro and Secretary Food Khalid Shaikh attended the meeting through a video link.

CM said that Rs 8.00 billion has been allocated to support growers, particularly the small ones through the Benazir Hari Card.

Mr Shah said that during the 2022 floods, Sindh had 4 million acres of standing kharif crop, and the crop was damaged even more, covering 3.6 million acres. He added that the total loss during the floods amounted to Rs 421 billion. “We are working to revitalize the agriculture sector and introduce new crops to reduce reliance on imported agricultural products,” he said.

The CM decided that the agriculture department would guide the growers to grow those crops which could be exported. “We are exporting rice and mostly import pulses,” he said adding that pulses have a vast market domestically and even for export.

He directed the agriculture department to analyse the market for crops, especially those that are imported by the federal government, to advise local farmers to grow these crops instead.

The meeting decided that the agriculture workshop of the Agriculture Department would be activated to provide agricultural machinery to the growers for land leveling, harvesting and other works. “We have to help growers to make their lands more fertile and adopt the methods of appropriate use of water,” he said.

Shah also directed the agriculture department to prepare a scheme to provide agricultural machinery to the growers in easy instalments. “Our grower must avail agricultural loans the banks are offering through different schemes,” he said.