‘Pakistan needs to use its resources to prosper’

PML-Q leader says farmers have been treated like stepchildren

LAHORE: Pakistan will not need foreign loans and pittances if indigenous resources are properly harnessed. The only time the nation broke the begging bowl was during PML-Q’s five years in government. PML-N’s step-motherly treatment of agriculture was forcing farmers to sell land to real-estate developers.

This was stated by PML-Q central leader Moonis Elahi as he voiced his concerns during a meeting with Punjab’s citrus farmers.



Commenting on the country's current economic crisis, he said Pakistan could turn into one of the richest nations in the world if its abundant natural and human resources were properly harnessed. He emphasised on the emergent need of maximising the country's agriculture growth potential to minimise poverty and to reduce reliance on foreign loans and pittances.

Citing an example of citrus yield in the country, he said that according to the UN, Pakistan was the world's 10th largest citrus producer with an annual harvest of over 2.4 million tonnes, but its citrus export was only a few hundred thousand tons.



It amounts to throwing our kinnows in the garbage, even when we know that they can become our key foreign exchange earners, said Elahi.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2017.