The federal government is likely to announce a package for the agriculture sector to reduce the input costs and enhance exports. According to Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, the agriculture sector is in crisis but the farmers in many other countries, including in India and Thailand, are also facing tough conditions due to crash of commodity prices in international market. The energy and infrastructure sectors as well as the human resources development have come as basic challenges before the government in recent years. The National Economic Council has approved an allocation of Rs1.675 trillion for the next year’s development programme to improve the situation. On another note, the federal and the Punjab governments are considering spending Rs200billion on the agriculture sector, to increase productivity and revive the export sector. The bleak performance of the agriculture sector during the current fiscal year has pulled down the country’s economic growth rate to 4.7percent against the targeted 5.5percent.
It is hoped that injection of funds in the agriculture sector will enable the government to achieve 4.7 percent growth rate during the next fiscal year. The government ministers often paint rosy picture of the economy and prosper future of the country, but all the claims and steps fail to meet the acceptable level success even at the implementation stage. However, experts believe cotton is one of the major crops of Pakistan and it has the potential to push the economy up to the desired level of growth. So far Indian cotton is also available in Pakistan and the government has avoided to imposeany restriction on its import. It remained a major source of raw material for the textile industry in the country during the current fiscal year. However, the government will have to take practical steps to enhance agricultural productivity because the country cannot afford to depend on the Indian cotton for a long time.
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Though electricity generation is the part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor project, the government is likely to allocate Rs157billion in the budget to improve energy situation. The time is running out and the government should have to designate land for the proposed industrial zones along the route of the economic corridor. There is a need to introduce modern techniques and hybrid seed in the agriculture sector and encourage the establishment of industries to turn agricultural produces into value added products. As population of the country is growing, there is a need to modernize the agriculture sector as the land is contracting day by day for cultivation.
