Farmers to get free seed, fertilisers

Federal govt decides to distribute free seed for wheat crop and fertilisers among farmers in the flood-affected areas.

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday decided to distribute free seed for wheat crop and fertilisers among farmers in the flood-affected areas to allay fears of a severe shortage of food grain in the future. The decision was taken at a flood mitigation meeting here with Food and Agriculture Minister Nazar Mohammad Gondal in the chair. Officials at the ministry told The Express Tribune that provinces had demanded 0.235 million tons of seed for distributing among flood-hit growers for the coming Rabi season.

The government, they added, have adequate seeds in its stocks and there would not be any problem in catering to the needs of all the four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) region. Gondal said the government is bound to provide wheat seed for the upcoming sowing season. Gondal said his ministry would soon finalise a relief or incentive package for the flood-affected areas and would forward it to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet for approval.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.