In an effort to increase per acre yield in the wake of looming threat of food security, the farmers’ community has demanded the government to provide inputs at cheaper rates and lower the interest rates on loans.
The government must pay attention to agriculture improvement and encourage the farmers in rural areas by providing facilities of loan at low interest rates through one window operations, said farming experts in Faisalabad while talking to The Express Tribune.
A number of countries provide cheap agriculture inputs products to improve the per acre yield, but in Pakistan, agriculture sector is ignored for reasons best known by the rulers, they added.
In Pakistan, there is a lack of farming communities and organisations which can hold awareness programmes for farmers and help them improve their farming production and also help to increase the average yield.
Yasir Mahmood, a small farmer in Faisalabad, told The Express Tribune that obtaining loans from the private sector is very costly due to high interest rates but easily accessible as compared to official agriculture loans.
Pakistan has one of the best irrigation systems of the world, but due to lack of resources, most farmers are deprived of the benefits. At the time of cultivation in every season, the cost of seeds, pesticides and urea increase, which affects the cost of production and also affect the average per acre yield, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.
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