Better crop yield: Sindh launches $76m agriculture project

It will be implemented in 14 districts, benefit 112,360 growers.

HYDERABAD: Amid concerns over transparency and competence, Sindh Agriculture Minister Ali Nawaz Khan Mahar inaugurated a $76-million project aimed at bolstering the income of small and medium farmers and crop productivity.

Funded by the World Bank, the five-year project will be implemented in 14 districts of Sindh. About 112,360 growers, divided in four separate groups of onion, rice, chilli and date farmers, will receive six-month training and an unspecified number of them will get subsidised agricultural implements.

“Growers of these four crops will particularly benefit from this project. After consultation with farmer representatives, we may add other crops like mango and tomato,” the minister said while speaking at a project launch workshop here on Wednesday.

The project’s objectives include improving productivity and market access for small and medium farmers, investment in knowledge sharing and technology and strengthening related public sector institutions.

Its three components consisted of capacity building and institutional development, investment in agricultural growth and project management and monitoring, said Project Director Irshad Ahmed Ansari. He said the training would include 20% theory and 80% practical work on the fields. Both local and foreign experts will train the farmers including 31,020 who cultivate chilli, 33,360 onion farmers, 40,000 rice growers and 7,980 date farmers.

Criticising the Sindh farmers, Mahar said they were lax in their approach towards their occupation unlike their counterparts in Punjab who worked very hard and got engaged in research work.

“Instead of wasting time at roadside hotels, the growers should access the internet to know about the advancement in crop sowing techniques,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2015.

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