|
Main Page
|
 |
|
News Channel |
|
Sound performance of agriculture sector
EDITORIAL (April 12 2004): The statistics
presented at the meeting of the Federal Committee
on Agriculture on April 3 reflected production in
major Kharif crops during 2003-04 at a level
higher than the estimates fixed before the
beginning of the season.
This could be described as a highly satisfactory
performance of the agriculture sector particularly
in the face of the prevailing shortages of
irrigation water, indicating brighter prospects of
improvements in per acre yield given adequate
efforts on the part of the farmers to adopt modern
methods of cultivation including proper selection
of high yielding and pest-resistant seeds.
The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA)
reviewed the production estimates of Kharif crops
for the year 2003-04 and prescribed targets of
production for the next season.
The meeting was presided over by the Federal
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Yar
Muhammad Rind, while those attending the meeting
included Arif Mustafa Jatoi, Sindh Minister for
Food and Agriculture and senior officials of the
food and agriculture ministries of other
provinces.
It was estimated that cotton production will be in
the region of 10.1 million bales against the
target of 10 million bales.
Thus the earlier apprehensions of widespread
damage to cotton crop have been allayed thanks to
the timely protective measures taken by the
farmers to control pest attack.
The estimate of cotton production for the next
season has been revised upwards to 10.7 million
bales which appears to be based on larger acreage
allocation for this crop by the provincial
governments.
However, despite a higher target for the next
season, the production of cotton would continue to
be lower than the consumption requirements of the
national textile industry at around 12.5 million
bales.
Moreover, the government is not paying adequate
attention to the need for making the locally
produced cotton free from contamination.
As a result, the textile industry has been
increasingly importing better-quality cotton from
the USA.
This shows that rising trend in cotton production
is not the complete answer to the problem of
meeting the local consumption demand, and steps
would have to be directed towards the objective of
producing contamination-free cotton.
The production of rice, the other major Kharif
crop, is estimated at 4.9 million tonnes in the
current season as compared to the previous
estimates of 4.5 million tonnes.
The next year's target has been placed at 5.1
million tonnes which is undoubtedly an appropriate
policy decision in the context of better prospects
of rice exports to new markets in the current
financial year.
There was a report that Pakistan's rice exporters
were planning to buy rice from India to re-export
it to countries with whom a firm deal was in hand.
In the circumstances, a better price of rice
should be ensured to the local farmers in order to
encourage them to increase production through
better per acre yield.
The Federal Committee on Agriculture also
estimated that wheat production in the current
Rabi season is likely to exceed the target of 20
million tonnes and touch the level of 20.1 million
tonnes which would be adequate to meet the local
consumption demand.
Since harvesting in Sindh has already started, the
shortfall in wheat flour supply in the province
apprehended currently, is expected to be arrested
quite on time.
The Agriculture Committee has expressed
satisfaction over the prospects of adequate
availability of inputs like better-quality seeds,
fertilisers and pesticides.
However, the new policy about the supply of
pesticides is yet to be announced by the
government which should be expedited with all
necessary measures to pre-empt rise in prices.
The new Kharif season will take off shortly with
the commencement of sowings and therefore stable
conditions in the supply of irrigation water and
necessary inputs will have to be ensured. Credit
disbursement is also stated to be on the increase
to farmers
It is estimated that the agricultural credit in
the forthcoming season during the year 2004-05 is
going to be at a higher level of Rs 65.6 billion
as compared to the current year's estimated amount
of Rs 62 billion.
It may be pointed out here that commercial banks
are now increasingly offering credit to the
farmers. One of the reasons for the rapid increase
in credit financing to agriculture sector from
commercial banks, appears to be the relatively
higher rate of mark-up at around 9 percent as
against the prevailing rate of 5 to 8 percent
charged to commercial and industrial clients.
It is expected that larger flow of bank credit
into the farm sector would ultimately force the
mark-up rates downwards.
Courtesy Business Recorder
|
|
|
|
|
Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
|
|
