NA body presents agri growth strategy for next seven years

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Special Committee on Agricultural Products presented an integrated structural reforms-oriented agricultural growth strategy for the next seven years. The presentation was made to a Committee of the Cabinet working on the new agriculture package.

In a bid to build the national consensus on the proposed agricultural growth strategy, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser called for a close scrutiny of the entire strategy and said after presentation to the Sub-Committee of the Cabinet on Agriculture, the strategy would be presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan and subsequently the report would be laid in the National Assembly for debate,” he made these remarks while presiding the meeting of the Special Committee on Agricultural Products at Parliament House on Friday.

The chief components of the agricultural growth strategy included special initiatives for Balochistan, south Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Tharparkar, cotton revival programme, oilseed development, low-cost refinance line of credit and credit enhancement for digital production finance, digitization of demand-driven extension content, integrated seed system, agriculture climate change insurance pool (farmer risk transfer mechanism)/ satellite-based crop reporting), establishment of agriculture development authority for coordination of reform implementation, linkages with Ehsaas, Kamyab Jawan and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and incentives for promoting investment in warehousing, contract farming and farmers produce organisations.

The panel was informed that the overarching objective is to achieve agriculture growth rate of 7.5% per annum by FY 2027-28 led and sustained by producer-owned integrated market-based value chains that incentivise producers to continue investing in modern and climate-smart production technologies, expansion of cultivated land area and value added activities.

Convener of the Sub-Committee Ms Shandana Gulzar Khan briefed the meeting on agricultural growth strategy. She presented a data driven snapshot of the structure of Pakistan’s agriculture sector, followed by a presentation of the sub-committee’s proposed strategy.

She highlighted that that the overarching goal of the proposed strategy is to boost agricultural exports, accelerate rural-development driven economic growth, reduce rural poverty, enhance financial and gender inclusion in agricultural sector.

Drawing upon historical data she explained that the inconsistent growth patterns of agricultural sector reveals lack of consistency in policy and planning for the sector.

She further added that the proposed model envision a pro-poor growth strategy focusing on transformation of the business model of the 7.4 million smallholder farmers who cultivate 48% of the total cultivable land. She said the weak business model of the smallholder farmers comprising low bargaining power, low access to finance, low yields, fragmented market segment, lack of access to competitive markets and high production cost hindered the modernization of the agriculture sector.

Shandana added that the proposed strategy drawing upon eco-system based, multi-pronged three phased strategy seeks to transform Pakistan’s subsistence agricultural into modern, diversified, competitive and high-value agriculture with a particular focus productivity and profitability of the smallholders’ farmers.

The convener of the sub-committee explained that the objective of the plan was to accelerate the modernization of agriculture sector so that the sector could generate resources for the sustained development of the economy with a high degree of self-reliance. She added that the proposed programme would complement prime minister’s initiatives for agriculture sector.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser said that agriculture was the backbone of the country, thus special attention should be paid to the sector. He said the strategy, after being presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan and debated in the National Assembly, along with its recommendation, would be sent to the government for implementation.

He said that $1.5 billion component had been reserved under the CPEC out of which substantial amount would be spent for uplift of agriculture sector. He said that prosperity of the farmer was directly linked with the development of the country.

He expressed his concern over the non-payment of price of sugarcane to farmers aggravating his agony. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam and other MNAs.