KARACHI: Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that his government has conceived mega development projects in collaboration with World Bank to modernize agriculture sector, improve its productivity and access to market.
He said that Sindh Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP) has been launched with its total estimated cost of Rs 8867.463 million. Similarly another project of Sindh Irrigated Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Project (SIAPEP) has also been prepared with its estimated cost of Rs 30 billion which is likely to be launched within months not only to bring about green revolution but also increase productivity and farm income for better socio-economic condition of farmers.
This he said while presiding over a meeting here on Tuesday to expedite implementation of SAGP recently launched with 86% financial assistance of its total cost from World Bank.
He said that agriculture and live stock were the only sectors upon which 70 to 80% population of the province depended for its livelihood, hence SAGP was conceived to boost up productivity and provide market access to small and medium producers of onion, chilies, dates and rice crops and avoid post harvest loss through efficient management and modern technology.
In addition to that important component of live stock has also been included in this project to increase dairy production and its marketing to benefit the breeders and also rehabilitate flood / rain effected infrastructure of live stock department.
Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Muhammad Wasim while briefing the meeting said that the total cost of this project was Rs 8867.463 million out of which Rs 6236.778 million were reserved for the agriculture component while remaining amount of Rs 2630.685 million for livestock components.
He said that this project was approved by ECNEC in February 2014 but it took off in July 2014 after fulfilling necessary formalities and was scheduled to be completed in June 2019 for the benefit of some 1,12,000 farmers.
He said that initially this project has been started in 23 district of the province including Tharpakar district but it can be extended to other districts as well.
The chief minister said that apart from this the Sindh Government was implementing many other projects for conservation of water for benefiting the growers. He said that by lining of a part of Rohri Canal, 20,000 acres of land have been reclaimed near Nawbshah.
He said that Khairpur and Sukkur have great potential for date's production but the varieties were not compatible in international market. He asked the project management to import quality plants from UAE or other countries and introduce the latest technology including establishment of Tissue Culture Laboratory, cold storage maturation and other facilities on modern lines.
Sindh Minister for Agriculture Ali Nawaz Khan Maher while briefing the meeting said that all bottlenecks experienced in implementation at initial stage have been resolved and assured that within the next four week implementation work will be in full swing.
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