Federal, Provincial gov'ts jointly implement 14 mega agricultural projects worth around Rs300 billion

January 08, 2020: The Board of Governors of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council on Wednesday approved revised budget of the council for the financial year 2019-20.

The board met here with Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, chairing the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, the minister appreciated PARC's vital role in improving the agriculture sector, adding that uplift of the agriculture sector is one of the highest priority areas of the present government.

The country currently facing degradation and depletion of natural resources including water, climate change impacts, resource conflicts, rapid urbanization, malnutrition and hunger poverty.

He also said that country was currently facing food trade deficit, being an agriculture country major chunk of exports was linked with better performance of the agriculture sector.

Under Prime Minister's Agriculture Emergency Programme, a sizeable investment has been pledged for the next four years, he said adding that federal and provincial governments are jointly implementing 14 mega projects worth around Rs300 billion that includes Rs67 billion for crops including wheat, rice, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses production.

The government has significantly increased agricultural sector investment from Rs1 billion to Rs12 billion. Being an apex organization, PARC played a significant role in achieving food security goals in the country, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Secretary Dr Muhammad Hashim Popalzai said that it was expected that the food policy implementation would help the promotion of value-added food production while creating a new class of agricultural businesspersons.

APP