Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Monday said Green Pakistan Initiative would bring about a second agriculture revolution in the country and create four million jobs.
Addressing a seminar on agriculture and food security, the prime minister said agriculture was the country’s backbone, and the farmers worked hard to provide food to millions of Pakistani people.
He said that the Green Pakistan Initiative would put the country on the road to progress, adding that farmers would be remembered in history as builders of Pakistan.
He said incentives for the agriculture sector were the right of farmers and the government’s responsibility to provide all possible assistance to them. “Farmers work hard, but it is common knowledge that they lack resources.”
The prime minister said growth in the agriculture sector would bring Pakistan to part with the developed countries.
He said the progress of Pakistan was inherent in hard work, adding green revolution in the 1960s was due to the introduction of new varieties of seed, the building of dams and canals and modern agriculture practices.
He said farmers should get more profits than the cost of production of their crops, including wheat. He mentioned that the government increased the support price of wheat, which led to record production of the commodity.
He was hopeful that due to the government’s incentives, cotton production would also rise.
He said it was the government’s responsibility to provide farmers with better seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and equip them with the latest technology.
Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the new agriculture initiative for giving real-time information about attacks of pests. He showed concern over the adulterated drugs given to the farmers and warned of action against the culprits.
He praised the vision of army chief Syed Asim Munir for developing the agriculture sector. “We must implement the vision for agriculture through collaboration among federal and provincial governments, agriculture departments and research institutes.”
He said the government was ready to fund the agriculture research centres, adding unfortunately, research centres were not doing any worthwhile work and fell victim to the culture of favouritism.
Shehbaz said state-owned enterprises were losing Rs 600 billion yearly, bleeding the economy. He noted that Pakistan imported $ 4.5 billion of palm oil, a burden on the national economy.
There was a time when Pakistan produced more cotton than its neighbouring country. Still, it lost track and was now making less of staple crops, and he said he said that Pakistan could not afford more foreign loans but was forced to save its economy from default by getting loans from friendly countries.
The PM said gulf countries were ready to invest in agriculture and bring modern machinery to boost crop production.
