PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Monday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had taken measures to ensure the food security of the province and reduce its dependence on other provinces.
In a statement issued here from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, he said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the first province, which launched its food security policy that included short, medium and long-term initiatives to increase the agricultural produce of the province.
The chief minister said that the Chashma Right Bank Lift Canal project was in the pipeline, which on completion would bring hundreds of thousands of acres of barren land under cultivation in the southern districts.
Mahmood Khan said the KP government launched Kisan Card for the assistance of farmers, which was the first of its kind initiative providing relief to farmers in the form of subsidies on agricultural products.
Talking about the steps taken in the agriculture and livestock sector in settled districts, he said this included the reclaiming of 4185 acres of land for agricultural purposes, the lining of 39095 meters of watercourses, training of 2500 farmers on advanced technologies, the establishment of 228 trout and carp fish farms, which increased production by 0.3 million kg while 1.4 million fish seeds were provided to farmers.
He said that an agriculture and livestock programme had been initiated while the establishment of the first veterinary university, i.e. The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, was in progress.
The chief minister said the provincial government was making efforts to increase the forest cover in the province. Under the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project, plantation of one billion saplings was underway, he said, adding that action had been taken against the timber mafia to preserve forest land while thousands of acres of forest land had been retrieved.
Mahmood Khan said some 1463 water schemes were completed in the last four years to ensure the provision of clean drinking water to the people. He said around 646 water supply schemes were solarized while 831 sanitation schemes were completed during the past four years in the settled districts alone.