NA special body formulates comprehensive agri growth strategy

ISLMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar handed over a comprehensive and integrated structural reforms oriented agricultural growth strategy for the next 7 years to Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam and to Sub-committee of the Cabinet on Agriculture Research.

The NA Special Committee on Agricultural Products formulated the comprehensive and integrated structural reforms oriented agricultural growth strategy for the next 7 years. The chief components of the strategy included special initiatives for Balochistan, South Punjab, KP, Tharparkar, cotton revival programme, oilseed development, Low-Cost Refinance Line of Credit & Credit Enhancement for Digital Production Finance, Digitisation 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 CPEC and incentives for promoting investment in warehousing, contract farming and farmers produce organisations.

The agriculture package maintained 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. It was maintained in the package 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.

It was stated that 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 modernisation of the agriculture sector.

It was maintained that the proposed strategy drawing upon eco-system based, multi-pronged three phased stagey 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.

NA Speaker Asad Qaisar said that the overarching objective is to achieve agriculture growth rate of 7.5% p.a. 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

The NA Speaker said that the plan is to accelerate the modernisation of agriculture sector so that the sector can generate resources for the sustained development of the economy with a high degree of self-reliance.