Agriculture: Committees formed to address farmers’ issues

BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has formed district agriculture advisory committees throughout the province to address the issues facing farmers and modernise the agriculture sector.  District coordination officers will head these committees.

Addressing the first meeting of the Rahim Yar Khan District Agriculture Advisory Committee on Wednesday, DCO Captain (r) Zafar Iqbal said that formation of these committees was a positive step. He said that issues facing farmers could be resolved through better planning and effective use of these committees. He said these committees could help prepare a joint action plan for provision of modern facilities to farmers and solve their problems. He said these committees would invite proposals from farmers for promotion of the agriculture sector and submit those proposals to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The DCO said that farmers were the most important community of Pakistan and growth of the national economy was directly linked to the growth of the agriculture sector. He said the agriculture sector would not grow until farmers’ problems were solved. He said that assistant commissioners would take steps to address issues like water theft, unavailability of water to tail-end farmers and sale of fake pesticides and fertilisers. He directed Agriculture EDO Zafaryab Haider to prepare a report on progress on mango processing and cold storage facilities in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2016.