Speaking during the question hour in the lower house, Khan said the fund allocation for industrial development in Balochistan was much higher than Punjab.
Turning to the risks posed by the law and order situation, he announced that the government would fully support domestic and foreign investors if they desired to invest in the province.
In a bid to encourage investment, he added, the government had declared Gwadar a special economic zone and the city’s port would be linked with the eastern Chinese port. The project has been named Pak-China Marine Silk Route.
Later, Parliamentary Secretary for National Food Security and Research Rajab Ali Baloch told the lawmakers present in the house that a national food security council was being set up to pave the way for extensive coordination between federal and provincial governments in an attempt to ensure food security in the country.
The council will be headed by the prime minister and its members, among others, will be the four chief ministers.
He stressed that the country was not facing any shortage of wheat as the demand stood at 25 million tons per annum while the current season’s production and last year’s carryover stock would provide 26 million tons for the market.
However, he acknowledged that there were some commodity transportation problems, which would be addressed with the help of provincial governments.
According to Baloch, an agricultural innovation programme has been initiated to focus on the vegetable value chain and reduction in post-harvest losses.
The Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad is developing technologies for value addition in vegetables and fruits under an Asian Development Bank project called “Strengthening of post-harvest research for food technology”.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2014.
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