Govt unveils Rs 309 bln Agricultural Emergency Programme

July 2, 2019: Federal government on Tuesday unveiled Rs309 billion ambitious Agriculture Emergency Programme to boost local production, reduce dependence on imports, improve lives of poor farmers and lead the country towards sustainable development.

The programme was announced at a joint press conference by Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan and Senior Leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jahangir Khan Tareen.

Speaking on the occasion, Jahangir Tareen lamented that Pakistan had turned into an importing country of food products despite being an agricultural country, having best kinds of water, land, environment and other prerequisites. Last year $4 billion agriculture products were imported, he added.

He said that the previous governments had failed to promote agriculture sector of the country.

Giving details about the programme, he said that out of the total Rs309 billion package, the federal government would provide Rs84 billion while the remaining amount of Rs225 would be shared by the provincial governments.

APP