HYDERABAD:Adviser to the Chief Minister on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan on Tuesday said the Sindh government was trying to solve the problems of farmers so that more land could be cultivated in the province.
For this purpose 12 bulldozers are being provided to the Agriculture Engineering department which will be given to the farmers for land leveling at a discounted price.
He said this while addressing bulldozers handing over a ceremony organized at Agriculture Workshop in Tando Jam.
Agriculture contributes a major share in Sindh’s GDP therefore this sector must be strengthened so that farmers and the country itself could be benefitted, Wasan said and added that the government was paying attention to improvement of water courses to resolve water issues. He said there were some shortcomings and weaknesses in the agriculture sector and efforts are being made to rectify them. While expressing displeasure over the performance of the Agricultural Department, he said keeping in view of the growing population and depletion of agriculture from the lands, there was a need to increase the production of commodities for the future needs of the people. He said that there should be an FIR against the dealers involved in black marketing of fertilizers, adding that the trawlers carrying fertilizers have been caught and heavy fines would be imposed against them. He said that 114 defunct bulldozers would be auctioned and replaced by new bulldozers. If attention has not been paid to the agriculture sector and issues are not being addressed, the supply and demand problems will arise, he warned. He said that all the crops including rice, wheat, cotton and others are grown in the province and Sindh alone contributes half share in the whole production of cotton in the country. Manzoor Wassan said that 12 new bulldozers imported from China at the cost of Rs330.66 million are being handed over to the Department of Agriculture Engineering. The Secretary Agriculture, Supply and Price Sindh Pervez Ahmed Sehhar, Director General Agricultural Engineering Sindh Farrukh Rasheed Ansari, Vice Chancellor Agricultural University TandoJam Dr Fateh Mohammad Marri, DG Agriculture Extension Wing Hidayatullah Chachro, Director Agriculture Research Noor Mohammad Baloch and Other officers of the department were also present on the occasion.