Bilawal orders early disbursement of seeds to growers

Urges Sindh govt for social protection plan implementation to control poverty

KARACHI:

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday directed the Sindh government to start disbursement of cash for the seeds the growers have purchased to grow the Rabi crop across the board within the next 20 days.

"The floods and rains have already caused huge losses to the growers while as they prepare their lands for Rabi crops, they must be supported to meet the requirement of their agricultural inputs," Bilawal said this while presiding over a meeting at CM House on Monday.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers, Manzoor Wassan, Sharjeel Memon, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah, Mukesh Chawla, Murtaza Wahab, Rasool Bux Chandio, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, and Secretaries of different departments. 

At the meeting, the chairman of PPP was told that the standing crops over an area of 3.6 million acres have been damaged in the recent flood, which caused an Rs421 billion loss to the growers.

On the occasion, chief minister Murad Ali Shah briefed the meeting about the relief being provided to farmers.

"As a first step, an exercise is underway to compensate the farmers for wheat seed through cash transfers," he said. The CM said that Rs5,000 would be provided to the growers per acre.

He said that his government has provided Rs8.39 billion while the federal government has pledged to contribute Rs4.7 billion. He added that the total requirement for the purpose was Rs13.5 billion.

While answering a question, the CM told Chairman Bilawal that the provision of subsidy on fertiliser was going to be worked out once the funding commitments from the federal government were made. He added that Rs46 billion were required for this intervention.

The chairman was told that the World Bank was supporting the farmers holding land up to 25 acres.

Addressing the meeting, the Chairman PPP directed CM Murad to give compensation for wheat seed to all farmers across the board regardless of the size of their landholding.

CM Advisor Manzoor Wassan told the meeting that wheat was sown over an area of 2.43 million acres. 

The meeting was informed that Rs45.51 billion would be required if fertiliser was given to the growers.

The PPP chairman formed a committee under Manzoor Wassan with Sharjeel Memon, and Syed Nasir Shah to collect and verify the data of farmers so that disbursement could be made at the earliest.

Bilawal said that the farmers should be sent text messages to transfer funds to their accounts or through the mobile phone cash system. The meeting also discussed climate issues and government measures to deal with them. He suggested that keeping in view the impact of climate change there is a dire need to construct weather-resilient houses for flood-affected people so that they could survive even if another natural calamity like floods or heavy rains lash them.  "We need houses that can withstand droughts, heavy downpours, storms, floods, and other disasters," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2022.