Farmers appreciate proposed measures for uplift of agri sector in budget

LAHORE: Farming community on Friday termed the budget 2018-19 as balanced and appreciated all the proposals made in the budget for strengthening the agriculture sector of the country.

A progressive farmer from Sahiwal, Naveed Akram, while talking to APP said several proposed relief measures announced in the budget proved the sincerity of the present government for development of agriculture sector and farmers.

He said the government had proposed to establish an agriculture research support fund with an initial allocation of Rs 5 billion, which would provide financial grants for research and development of modern plant and seed varieties in order to achieve higher crop yield.

He said, "Research is important for boosting the yield of various crops and ensuring betterment in the agriculture sector."

Another small farmer, Shafiq Ather from Okara said progress and prosperity of the country was directly linked with the prosperity of growers.

He said the proposed measures like uniform General Sales Tax (GST) at the rate of 3 percent on all fertilizers, would help eliminating distortion in tax regime, further reduce fertilizer prices and promote use of balanced nutrient.

Shafiq said the government also proposed to reduce GST on agriculture machinery from current 7 percent to 5 percent which he termed another great step for the welfare of farming community.