‘Develop small cities to check urbanisation’

LAHORE

New and small cities should be developed rather than expanding the existing bigger cities which will stop urbanisation and create new employment opportunities for the migrating youth.

These views were expressed by the experts in Jang Economic Session on ‘Role of SME and agriculture sectors in employment generation’. The panellists were Sajid Naseer, Rehmatullah Javeed, Abad-ur-Rehman, Rukhsana Zafar, Nadeem Qureshi and Nadeem Bhatti while hosted by Sikandar Lodhi.

Sajid Naseer said that rapid population growth was the major cause of unemployment and provision of employment to 60 percent of youth population of Pakistan was essential. He said that annual 8 to 9 percent growth rate was required to eradicate unemployment. He said the PVTC and other institutions were playing role in promotion of vocational training and technical education. He said the government support to agriculture sector was crucial to increase the exports of the country.

Rehmatullah Javeed said that economic and SME sector growth was correlated while the agriculture sector issues should be resolved at national level. He said private sector was performing well for research and development in agriculture sector while the government should also expand research and development. He said monetary policy for the SME sector was improving while the sector should also get full advantage of it. He said a dedicate SME zone was crucial for the sector growth.

Abad-ur-Rehman said the agriculture sector was not performing well due to negligence on part of the government. He called for increasing agriculture sector share in budget for employment generation. He said vocational training and technical education in rural areas could play pivotal role in the growth. He called for establishing new small cities besides road infrastructure development. He said the government support to food processing industry could increase the employment generation. Rukhsana Zafar said that potential of agriculture sector remained untapped due to weak policies. She called for land management, irrigation technologies, and quality seeds could improve productivity and resolve farmers problems.

Nadeem Qureshi said SME sector growth was also attached with the agriculture sector so the government should ensure certified seeds and R&D to increase productivity. He said Pakistani youths were not incompetent while there was a need to channelise their potential. He called for provision of soft loans to youths for small businesses while small storage and cold chains in rural areas could be helpful for farmers. He said agriculture inputs should be reduced rather than giving subsidies to farmers.

Nadeem Bhatti said increase in unemployment was dangerous for law and order. He said self-employment schemes through small businesses should be introduced and loans be given to educated and trained youths to achieve better results.