12 bulldozers provided to farmers on easy terms

Government paying attention to improvement of watercourses to resolve water issue, says Manzoor Wassan

HYDERABAD:

Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan said on Tuesday that the provincial government was trying to solve the problems of farmers so that more land could be brought under cultivation.

For this purpose 12 bulldozers are being provided to the Agriculture Engineering department which will be given to the farmers for land leveling at a discounted price.

He said this while addressing bulldozers handing over ceremony, organised at Agriculture Workshop in Tando Jam.

Agriculture contributes a major share in Sindh’s GDP therefore this sector must be strengthened so that farmers and the country itself could be benefitted, Wassan said and added that the government was paying attention to the improvement of watercourses to resolve water issues.

He said there were some shortcomings and weaknesses in the agriculture sector and efforts are being made to rectify them.

While expressing displeasure over the performance of Agricultural Department, he said keeping in view of the growing population and depletion of agriculture from the lands, there was a need to increase the production of commodities for the future needs.

He said that there should be an FIR against the dealers involved in black marketing of fertilisers, adding that the trailer trucks carrying fertilisers have been caught and heavy fines would be imposed against them.

Read More: Sindh govt to provide subsidy to farmers: Wassan

He said that 114 defunct bulldozers would be auctioned and replaced by new ones. If attention has not been paid to the agriculture sector and issues are not being addressed, the supply and demand problems will arise, he warned.

He said that all the crops including rice, wheat, cotton and others are grown in the province and Sindh alone contributes half share in the whole production of cotton in the country.

Manzoor Wassan said that 12 new bulldozers imported from China at the cost of Rs330.66 million are being handed over to the department.

The Sindh Secretary Agriculture, Supply and Price, Pervez Ahmed Sehhar, Director General Agricultural Engineering, Sindh Farrukh Rasheed Ansari, Vice Chancellor Agricultural University, Tando Jam, Dr Fateh Mohammad Marri, DG Agriculture Extension Wing, Hidayatullah Chachro, Director Agriculture Research, Noor Mohammad Baloch and other officers of the department were present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2021.