Provincial Minister for Finance Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha has said that Agriculture is a major contributor to the national economy, accounting for over 21 percent of its GDP. About 80% of the country’s foreign exchange originates from agriculture and Punjab contributes over 70% to this amount. Our whole progress depends on uplifting of this sector. This is the reason that Government of the Punjab is taking revolutionary steps for achieving agriculture highest growth rate. Distribution of 100 billion interest free loans, 39 Billion rupees subsidy on DAP fertilizers, 500 million rupees subsidy to the farmers on cultivation of oilseed crop (Canola & Sunflower), Provision of 9000 Laser land leveler on subsidized rates, transformation of Potohar Region into Olive Valley, Improved irrigation network at farm level, made by spending Rs.5 Billion and 39,320 acre land converted into High Efficiency Irrigation System (HEIS) are part of our revolutionary plan. For the first time in history of Pakistan, Agriculture sector showed a remarkable growth rate of 3.46% during 2016-17 against -0.27 % during 2015-16. No doubt, Kissan Package inclusion contributes a great deal in this growth rate, currently agriculture sector growth rate is 5.75%, she added,
She further said that Government is well aware of the fact that farmers are facing lot of problems due to International crisis in prices of agriculture commodities and a lot of things still need to be done.
She expressed these views while addressing the launching ceremony of Connected Agriculture Platform Punjab CAPP, organized by Agriculture Department in collaboration with Telenor Pakistan. Secretary Agriculture Ray Mehmood, Chairman PITB Umer Saif, CEO Akhuwat foundation,Marketing Officer Telenor Bilal Kazmi, CEO Karandaaz, representatives of NBP, ZTBL,Telenor Micro Financing and NRSP were also present on the occasion. Secretary Agriculture said that CAPP is a begging of a modern era in agriculture regime. Prior to this program, farmer has neither authenticated sources to know about marketing rates of different agriculture commodities nor he can visualize the modern techniques for cultivation of crops. Now, with the help of this smart phone a farmer can know about precise rates of Agriculture commodities and all other related information he needed through special Apps which has been installed in this phone and farmers will get training how to use this phone at “Facilitation Centers ” established at district and divisional level. So, in other words, the whole world will be in hands of famers in the form of this smart phone and through its usage he can increase agricultural productivity. Chairman PITB Umer Saif and Bilal Qazmi also expressed their views on this occasion. Umer Saif said that the services under the project will be supplemented by a dedicated Call Centre Helpline and a Digital Operations Control Centre. We at PITB and the government of Punjab will be able to keep full track of CAPP’s success and progress via a dedicated portal featuring a user-friendly dashboard with real-time visual data and analytics on farmer listing profiles, feedback, transactional reports, loan performance reports, farmer listing profiles, and complaint reporting. It will be for the first time ever that we have all the vital information at our fingertips. In addition to seeing where we are going with the project, we will be able to make informed decisions that are essential to transformation of our agricultural landscape,” he added.
Billal kazmi said that We are proud to collaborate with the Government of Punjab and Telenor Pakistan to launch the Connected Agriculture Program for Punjab (CAPP).He further said that being aware of the challenges faced by our agricultural sector and farmers today despite being the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and society, we are delighted to partner-up with the Punjab Agriculture Department to make a difference in the lives of more than half a million households associated with agriculture by providing them easy access to formal and credible credit resources through this program. Besides helping them improve their standard of living, the program will help Pakistani farmers improve their farming practices and increase their agricultural yield.