Sindh to launch Peoples Hari Cards for small farmers

The Sindh government has decided to launch Peoples Hari Cards in the new financial year to benefit the underprivileged farmers in the province having small landholding.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Ismail Rahoo said that small-scale farmers will be given the facility of Rs3 billion subsidy in the new financial year under the Peoples Hari Card programme.

Rahoo said the Sindh government will register one million farmers having small landholding in the province to issue them the Peoples Hari Cards. He said the subsidy will be provided to small-scale farmers to give them fertilisers and other such essential products required for farming.

The minister said the Sindh government will construct 16 new cold storage facilities in the province during the new financial year for preserving agricultural produce. He said the saline subsoil water of Thar will be made suitable for cultivation by installing special plants for the purpose. He also said the Sindh government stands with the farmers of the province.

He claimed that the farming sector has been massively affected due to the policies of the federal government. He said the Centre has allocated only Rs12 billion for the sector despite agriculture’s share being 19 per cent in the country’s GDP.

He pointed out that the allocation for the agriculture sector in the federal budget is just one per cent of the Public Sector Development Programme. Rahoo said that there has been a record increase in the prices of urea, seeds and tractors for farmers during the present government. He said that only one per cent of Sindh’s farmers received loans from the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan. He claimed that the federal government had provided no support when the farming sector of Sindh faced the challenges of torrential rains, droughts and locusts.