December 17, 2010

Pakistani province gets US$39-million agricultural fund boost

Pakistan's Sindh provincial government has started a programme to restore the agriculture industry worth PKR3.36 billion (US$39 million) through which flood-affected farmers would also get fertilisers and seeds.

The programme, Rabi Assistance Plan, was announced by Sharmila Farooqui, advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister on Information and Archives. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal government had approved the plan at the mentioned cost.

The federal government had to pay the half of the amount to the Sindh government while the half of the amount has been shared by the Sindh government.

She said the federal government has transferred PKR1.68 billion (US$19.6 million) amount to Sindh government after which they started the plan on war-footing basis as we can rehabilitate the flood ravaged agriculture sector of the province amicably.

According to the Rabi Assistance Plan, she said Sindh government is providing fertilisers and seeds worth PKR30,000 (US$349.65) on the basis of every 12.5 acres flood-affect land.

"District and Taluka based committees have been formed to distribute the seed and fertiliser among the flood affected growers. These committees will also monitor the transparency of the plan," she said.

Sharmila said we have picked up four members from the private sector of Abadgars (Growers) and Chamber of Commerce as we can complete this task with full transparency and these members will support the government in this seeds and fertilisers distribution plan besides, District Coordination Officers (DCOs), EDO (Revenue), EDO (Agriculture), DDOs (Revenue) and Mukhtiarkars are also the part of these District and Taluka based committees.

The advisor said Sindh government has allocated PKR1 million (US$11,700) for every district for the transportation of seeds and fertilisers. She said Sindh is already working on the Sindh Agriculture Recovery Project (SARP) to provide the sun flower seeds, fertilisers and some amount to the flood affected growers. Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), Rural Support Network (RSN) and other organisations are playing their roles along with the Sindh Government in this regard, she said.

She said recent floods have destroyed crops standing on 2.243 million acres of land, causing losses of PKR1.2 billion (US$14 million).

Sindh government has succeeded in draining out the flood water from the agriculture land of the province, while remaining lands would also be cleared of flood water till the end of December.