PESHAWAR
\nLeaving behind the negative effects of the devastated floods of August-September this year, Kamal Khan (25) a poor farmer of village Mohib Banda Nowshera was able to complete cultivation of wheat sowing in his three acres fields after receiving the much needed assistance under the Prime Minister\u2019s Kisan (farmers) package.
\n\u201cI had suffered great financial losses after my standing crops were destroyed by the record-breaking floods of highest velocity from Swat during August-September in River Kabul and was facing great financial hardship to arrange money for purchase of seeds, fertilizers and cultivation related expenses during post flood situation,\u201d he told APP.
\nThe PM\u2019s Kisan package has been proved as great blessing for hundreds of thousands of poor farmers and wheat growers who were unable to cultivate wheat due to financial constraints, said Kamal Khan, who started agriculture farming in his native village on three acres to feed his family after the untimely death of his father Hamayun.
\nHe termed the Prime Minister\u2019s Kisan Package as a great relief to hundreds of thousands of flood-hit farmers and wheat growers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
\nOn October 31, 2022, the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced a gigantic Kissan Package worth Rs1800 billion under which subsidized loans on easy terms and conditions were being provided to flood affected farmers and wheat growers.
\nIkhtair Wali Khan, PMLN KP Spokesman and member provincial assembly, told APP that people of all provinces including Khyber Pakthunkhwa were largely benefited from the historic package.
\nHe said till November of fiscal year 2022-23, agricultural loans of Rs 664 billion have been distributed among farmers, which was 36 percent more compared to the same period of previous financial year under the Prime Minister Kisan Package.
\nA record increase of Rs400 billion were made this year compare to previous year in the package while a subsidy of over 10 billion rupees were being provided to waive off mark-up fee on loans availed by farmers of flood affected areas including of Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, DI Khan and Tank districts.
\nThe package also includes loans worth Rs 50 billion for the youth of rural areas of the country including merged tribal districts of KP who wanted to invest in the agriculture sector. As many as Rs6.4 billion were being provided as subsidies on mark-up of loans to facilitate poor farmers besides promoting agro based economy to make the country self -sufficient in food.
\nThe Labour Force Survey of 2017-18 conducted by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has revealed that 39 percent of the country\u2019s labour force was engaged in agriculture including 30.2 percent male and 67.2 percent female while agriculture sector contributes 18.5 percent to the country\u2019s GDP, which was comparatively low than Pakistan\u2019s agriculture potential.
\nMuhammad Naeem, Assistant Professor Economic Department, University of Swabi said that the agriculture sector was the lifeline of the country as the industries were largely dependent on the green sector.
\nOut of a total area of 79.6 million hectares in the country, he said that 22.1 million hectares were cultivated while the rest of the territory was cultural waste, densely populated forests and rangelands.
\nDespite the world best irrigation system, he said the cropped area was very low in the country with around 23.3 million hectares while forest cover spread on 4.6 million hectares against 25percent mandatory as per international standards.
\nInspite of an impressive and continuously growing agricultural production, he said the country was still facing high levels of food insecurity due to rapid population growth and climate change\u2019s challenges.
\nIn the wake of the post-18th amendment in 2011, he said that the total agriculture development spending has started decreasing as the provinces did not play their due role in taking initiatives meant for increasing crop yields.
\nIkhtiar Wali Khan said the government after a successful negotiation fixed the new price of DAP as Rs11,250 per bag by providing a negotiated subsidy of 2500 rupees per bag with fertilizer producers under the package.
\nHe said five billion rupees was reserved to provide subsidy on mark-up of loans to facilitate landless peasants of flood affected areas, adding about 1.2 million bags of certified seed were provided to farmers of flood-hit areas.
\nSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are being encouraged to investment in Agriculture sector, he said, adding SME\u2019s interested in investment in this sector were enabled to get loans on subsidized rates for which Rs 6.4 billion were fixed besides Rs10 billion for modernization of the scheme.
\nIkhtair Wali said import of used tractors was allowed to enable farmers to import second hand tractors up to five years of their manufacture date, adding a subsidy on the duty of five-year on old tractor would be 50 percent while duty on a three-year old tractor would be 36 percent.
\nHe said for the first time in the country\u2019s history, duty has been reduced from 35 percent to 15 percent to attract new entrepreneurs in the field of tractor manufacturing.
\nHe said over two hundred thousand tons of urea were imported to facilitate flood hit farmers while a subsidy of Rs 30 billion was already provided to farmers and other agriculture growers. He said that over one million tons of wheat including seeds has already been distributed among farmers.
\nHe said there were around 300,000 agri tube-wells operating in Pakistan, and the federal government has planned to solarize all of them for which a massive subsidy would be provided in electricity related matters at a flat rate of 13 rupees per unit for agricultural tube-wells to facilitate farmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Leaving behind the negative effects of the devastated floods of August-September this year, Kamal Khan (25) a poor farmer of village Mohib Banda Nowshera was able to complete cultivation of wheat sowing in his three acres fields after receiving the much needed assistance under the Prime Minister\u2019s Kisan (farmers) package. \u201cI had suffered great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-304152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n