Measures adopted to accelerate date production

SUKKUR:  Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Nafisa Shah Jillani on Tuesday held a meeting with date producers at the Jillani House in Khairpur.

While talking to the growers, the PPP MNA said that Pakistan was globally ranked fourth in date production and agriculture was the backbone of Pakistan. She demanded subsidies for the growers of dates. She said that the government should take precautionary measures for protecting the date crops from natural calamities, viruses and other threats. She proposed cold storage and the use of modern technology to get more fruit crops. 

On this event, the growers complained that the price of dates was decreasing, adding that they were not getting enough profits from date production. Owing to which, the date producers were facing acute financial crisis. 

The date producers said that there were no measures taken by the Sindh government to train dates growers in eliminating viruses from the crops. On hearing their complaints, Nafisa Shah directed the Sindh Agriculture Department and the Sindh Agricultural Growth Project members to address the issues of dates’ producers and come up with a comprehensive strategy in order to solve these problems.

She said that interest-free loans against cold storage to the growers of dates should be the priority of the government.  In the end, she assured the growers that she would raise their concerns at all concerned forums.