KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Standing Committee on Agriculture Production and Horticulture has said that no concrete measures were taken in the fiscal budget 2015-16 for the transformation of agriculture, horticulture sector and its exports, except tax incentives and addition in the agri credit.
The fact that the agriculture sector accounts for 20.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has posted a growth of 2.9 percent in the outgoing fiscal year 2015.
While commenting on the budget speech of Federal Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, the chairman of the FPCCI standing committee, Ahmad Jawad, said “We cannot achieve the GDP target without investing in agriculture sector.”
He claimed that history showed that whenever country achieved GDP growth rate that was only happened due to agriculture sector. The international surveys showed that every dollar invested in agri sector may get profitable ventures, he added.
“Although, the Credit Guarantee loans for small farmers, increase in the agri credit from Rs 500 billion to Rs 600 billion, interest free loans only on 30,000 solar tube wells also a good initiatives but it cannot add the optimum output”, he says.
However, he went on say that the tax holidays up to 3 to 4 years on the cool chain units, halal production units termed to be a positive indicator subject to a timely comprehensive policy by the government.
