Pakistan Agriculture Developments

[ghazi52]

GB agriculture thrives as water availability improves

ISLAMABAD: A US-funded project has helped reduce water losses in the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region by 60 per cent, bringing more land under cultivation to spur agricultural growth in the territory, and raising income and productivity for more than 8,000 farmers.

The US-funded Satpara Development Project, which closed on Monday, ran for seven years and was carried out by USAID to increase access of farmers to irrigation and achieve increased agricultural production and economic opportunities.

As a result of all these initiatives, 1,200 new businesses were established creating more than 4,000 jobs in GB. Horticultural products from Baltistan now have access to larger markets in both Lahore and Islamabad.

The project was named after ‘Satpara Lake’ which is a natural lake near Skardu, supplying water to Skardu valley and fed by the Satpara stream. The completion of Satpara dam downstream of the lake has enlarged the size of Satpara lake

 

[ghazi52]

Importance of agriculture discussed

The agriculture sector is the lifeline of Pakistan’s economy and it is adding around 25% to the economy, employing 42.3% of labour force and remains a major source of raw materials for several value-added sectors.

This was discussed in the speeches delivered by Chinese and Pakistani experts at CAC Pakistan Conference held in Lahore. The speakers added that joint ventures and transfer of latest technology is prerequisite to avail full benefits from the potential of Pakistani agriculture sector.

Topics that came under discussion included China agrochemical manufacturing capability, Pakistani crops and demand for agrochemicals and machineries and pesticides registration management updates in Pakistan.

 

[ghazi52]

ISLAMABAD: Recent inclusion of the agriculture sector in the long term plan of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provides Pakistan an opportunity to significantly reduce its huge trade deficit of around $9 billion with China by exporting more value added agriculture products to tap China’s growing demand of food commodities.

Under the project, China would transfer its technology to Pakistan to increase per acre yield of various crops and to add more value to the agriculture products.

The CPEC plan envisages significant development of the agriculture sector of Pakistan – an often-overlooked area amidst the developments being made in the energy, infrastructure, and industrial sectors of the country, said an annual report titled “State of Economy 2017-18” launched by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Pakistan can enhance its exports through various CPEC initiatives and by tapping into the growing import dependence of China. In agriculture sector, out of China’s global food imports of around $99.6 billion, Pakistan’s share is only around 0.37 percent (roughly $ 0.4 billion).

According to the report, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), in its 2018 Food Security Policy, envisages the development of nine agricultural development zones along the CPEC.

By encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, the zones could serve as platforms to develop clusters and infrastructure to nurture emerging rural businesses in an effort to produce commodities deemed exportable to China.

These commodities include cereals, dairy, eggs, meat, honey, tobacco, seafood and fruits, and others.

Meanwhile, sources in the Planning Ministry relayed that major progress is expected during the visit of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to China next month where the two countries may sign a legal framework agreement under the corridor to bring investment in the sector and exporting surplus produce to feed the growing Chinese population.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing during a press briefing also indicated that China was eagerly waiting for PM Imran’s first visit when a number of projects under CPEC related to the agriculture sector would be finalized.

He also said China was eager to invest more in Pakistan and buy more from the country to enhance its economic development.

The report further added that in the crop sector, focus is emphasised on increasing the use of modern machinery and synthetic fertilizers to enhance yields, while food storage, and processing zones would be constructed to reduce significant post-harvest losses.

Similarly, the building of cold storage stations and meat processing plants is also being planned to enhance productivity of livestock and fisheries sectors besides making their output more competitive in the international market.

These developments hold the potential to not only boost the agriculture output of the country but also to narrow the trade imbalance between China and Pakistan by expanding food exports to the former.

The report pointed out that due to the growing demand of processed food in China, the country has been planning to bring investment into the agriculture sector in all the countries along its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China has so far invested $3.4 billion in agriculture sectors abroad. It intends to develop various food processing and storage stations across BRI economies to mitigate price fluctuations and increase supply of food products for the domestic market.

Development of the agriculture sector under CPEC can also serve as an opportunity to modernize the processing segment of the agriculture sector.

 

[AsifIjaz]

In terms of agricultural exports Pakistan has a long and difficult road ahead of it..
Firstly our per acre yield of everything from wheat, sugar cane, rice to potatoes, onions and other vegetables is very low if not disappointing.
Secondly whatever we produce is not finished or packed in a way that makes it attractive, long lasting and leads to low wastage of it.
Thirdly most of our agricultural institutes are worthless and should be closed down or revamped with fresh blood. I have not come across any development in terms of quantity or quality of the fruit (size or seedless), or the size of the vegetables and their per acre yield.
I will try to explain some of my points with personal experiences .. In qatar the pakistani vegetables that u get mainly includes potatoes and onions from pakistan followed by raddish, green chilli and amongst fruits u get mangoes and oranges. Compared to other countries pakistani Onions are not sorted out, with lots of extra skin, cut or damaged onions are mixed and overall its not appealing to the eye. Same goes for Potatoes as well where cut, pierced and sliced potatoes are not uncommon. These are thus sold very cheaply, compared to pakistani potatoes the potatoes from france are less tasty but are more appealing to the eye, have bigger size and thus sold more expensive. Almost all vegetables from india or abroad are usually polished or treated which makes them greener and more appealing.
Our oranges are brought in paper cartons or containers which makes roughly 1/5 of them pear, oval or any shape other than round. People walk pass them and buy other options available which are not that tasty. I gave a few Egyptians and Labanese orange juice from local oranges and served them peeled as well and since then they are hooked to them. They too but complain of finishing and short life of the fruit.
Point is...
Inclusion of agriculture in Cpec is no doubt a good thing but we can boost our preacence and raise more money by just improving the finishing or packaging of our produce. You dont need chinese or westerners to do that for u. Its relatively cheaper and ROI is quick. Chinese expertise is required for increasing per acre yield, improving size and resiatance of produce and finally in enhancing the quality of the fruits.
My 2 cents

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan's agricultural sector at a glance

An overview of Pakistan's agri sector, and and the challenges it currently faces

https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1143279/pakistans-agricultural-sector-at-a-glance

 

[ghazi52]

(23rd Dec, 2018 ) : The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agriculture Department has unveiled a mega agriculture package worth Rs17.573 billion to facilitate farmers, beekeepers and horticulturists of the province.

The package was okayed under the 100 days ambition plan of PTI Govt as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to improve socio-economic of people associated with agriculture sector.

The package entitled, "Incentives plan for agriculture sector KP," has been drafted by Agriculture Extension Wing of KP Agriculture Department which received applause by the Prime Minister Imran Khan when unfolded under his chair here few days back.

Dr Murad Ali, Deputy Director Planning Agriculture Extension KP told APP on Sunday that the main components of the mega package to be covered under the plan over a period of next five years included incentive plans for cereals, horticulturists, sugarcane growers, agri extension activities,agriculture marketing produce, addition in fruits vegetable and processing.

Referring to incentives made available for cereals, Dr Murad said it is the main important source of nutrition in Pakistan as wheat and rice are staple commodities in the daily food consumption.

To address their problems, various activities have been proposed which will not only improve socio-economic conditions of farmers but would also improve food security situation and will be having positive impact on the country's economy.

Total incentives offered in the cereals sector amounting to Rs4.6 billion will benefiting more than 6,00,000 farmers.

About horticulture sector, Dr Murad told APP that KP is blessed with variety of climates suitable for cultivation of many vegetables and fruits including citrus, Apple, peach, plum, apricots, dates, cucumbers,onions, cauliflowers, cabbage, chilies, pumpkins etc.

According to 2015 statistics, fruits are sown on areas of 38357 hectares having production of 335986 tons and similarly vegetables growing on area of 34810 hectares with a production of 384694 tons.

The package incentive plan will benefit 66000 farmers for which 5.34 billion have been allocated for fruits and vegetables growers.

The senior agriculture officer said farmers associated with sugarcane will be provided Rs100.750 million incentives under the plan which will benefit around 10500 farmers in the province.

He said sugarcane is one of the major cash crop of the province as in 2015-16, it was sown in area of 11586 hectares having production of 5472889 tons.

Under the plan, sugarcane growers will be provided incentives in the shape of nurseries kids and machinery.

Extension activities to be carried out under the plan included arranging 56 number of Kisan melas at divisional level, four provincial kisan melas and 400 field days.

The plan has also addressed the marketing issues of the agriculture produce in the province, he said adding, various set of activities have been proposed under this mega incentive plans included construction of nine markets, registration of all major and minor agriculture markets, capacity building of farmers, stakeholders and dissemination of market information to the farmers through ICT.

Around 30,000 small and poor farmers would be facilitated and benefited by providing small and invocate machinery and equipment, he added.

He said value addition in fruits, vegetables and processing is also part of the 100 days plan under which 12000 number of farmers will be distributed at a cost of Rs4.30 billion.

Similarly, under honey beekeeping and processing a total of 3000 farmers will benefit at a cost of Rs 225 million.

 

[ghazi52]

Punjab Digitizes Forest Records with Satellite Imagery

The Punjab administration has digitized forest records with the establishment of a geographic information system (GIS) laboratory which is situated near Ravi Road, #Lahore.

As part of the initiative, forest records in the province are being digitally mapped. So far 750,000 acres of the forest land has already been mapped out. While the monitoring and maintenance of the area on a permanent basis is also being switched to digital.

As part of this project 500,000 acres of forest land has already been accounted for through satellite imagery.

With the help of this modern technology we can now confirm the correct number of trees, area and location of a forest in any part of Punjab.

Pretty soon the information will be available to the public via a mobile phone application. The same information is being made available via a web portal.

The Punjab Information Technology Board (#PITB) are helping with this. It is expected that both the web portal and the mobile app would be completed by 2019.

Records for plantation on private sector land will also be available. The move is part of the Social Forestry Programme spearheaded by the forest department.

As part of the same program, there are also plans to do reforestation via plantation, with 11,850 acres of land ready to be claimed. 7,500 acres of this land intended for plantation is in various districts of Thal, including in Khoshab, Mianwali, Bhakar and Layyah.

The project also aims for plantation on 4,350 acres of river land. The Provincial Minister for Forestry Sabtain Khan said that any queries regarding the number of saplings planted as part of the project of the reforested land will be addressed by the GIS lab and the web portal

 

[ghazi52]

NASA remote sensing data provided to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Council for Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) has planned to expand the scope of `Irrigation Advisory SMS Service for the Farmers’ by increasing the number of registered farmers from existing 20,000 up to 100,000 soon.

The service was launched on April 18, 2016 as an outcome of international collaboration extended by University of Washington (UW) and NASA with an aim to help reduce overwatering and enhance crop yields for Pakistani farmers.

The University of Washington is providing real time daily Potential Evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation for entire Pakistan using NASA 's remotely sensed data. PCRWR determined crop coefficients (Kc) for different crops in different agro-climatic zones of Pakistan.

“PCRWR has planned to extend its Irrigation Advisory Service to 100,000 farmers now while in the long run, the council envisions extending it to all farmers of irrigated areas through international and national coordination”, PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Tahir said this while talking to APP.

The service has already been informing the farmers of 41 districts (irrigated areas) about their net weekly irrigation requirements, considering Evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation.

Dr Aslam said around 90 percent of the water is consumed in the agriculture sector of the country and most of it is wasted due to improper utilization. The objective behind initiating this service was to conserve this water through educating farmers about actual water requirement for their crops.

The farmers, through this service, get weekly information on how much water their crop is needed and if there is chances of any rain or not during the next week.

The chairman said through this service, if we can even save only one percent of the whole will be a big achievement for us and help overcome the looming threat of acute water scarcity in the years to come.

He said the PCRWR is in contact with Telenor Telecom Company to utilize their service and existing database of farmers for providing irrigation advisory service to the maximum number of farmers.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also shown interest in capacity building of the technical staff to be involved in this task, Dr Aslam said.“We need to upgrade our system and require big servers for this purpose”.

A survey by the PCRWR found that farmers who used the text message alerts reported a 40 percent savings in water while their income has been doubled as they got more crops by applying the correct amount of water. - APP

 

[ghazi52]

PM Imran targets 142.6 million trees in fresh plantation drive

January 8, 2019

Premier to inaugurate spring plantation drive in last week of February.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to inaugurate the Spring Plantation Campaign in the last week of February with over five million saplings to be planted on the first day nationwide.

The overall target set by the premier is 142.6 million trees.

PM’s adviser on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Monday presided over a meeting to discuss ways to make the plantation drive successful.

Officials from all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan attended the meeting.

Amin stressed on the need for third party monitoring and evaluation system to ensure transparency in the 10 billion tree project under Clean Green Pakistan Program.

He also directed all provincial officials to formulate a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard and carry out the plantation drive accordingly.

Stakeholders briefed those present in the meeting on the targets for the spring plantation drive.

Twelve million saplings will be planted in Punjab and Sindh while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will have 100 million.

Moreover, 1.2 million saplings will be planted in Balochistan and 4.88 million in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the fresh drive.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan fifth largest sugarcane producer in world

MULTAN : Pakistan is the fifth largest sugarcane producer in the world with an annual production of 63,800 thousand metric tons (TMTs), after Brazil, India, China and Thailand. According to website, 'worldatlas.com', Brazil is the top ranking country producing 739,300 TMTs of sugarcane annually. India is on the second berth with 341,200 TMTs, Peoples Republic of China on the third spot with 125,500 TMTs, and Thailand is fourth in the order with 100,100 TMTs annual production. The United States of America (USA) was listed on 10th spot with 27,900 TMTs production, Philippians on the 9th with 31,900 TMTs, Indonesia ranked 8th with 33,700 TMTs, Colombia on the 7th with 34,900 TMTs and Mexico ranked sixth with 61,200 TMTs. A sugarcane grower Irfan Khokhar told APP that Pakistan's ranking among top 10 sugarcane producing countries showed that farmers here were industrious and getting good production amid adverse circumstances.

He said that sugarcane farmers had been facing problems which, he added, should be resolved.



He said that farmers would be more than happy provided they get due return of their produce without any delay and demanded that some mechanism be introduced and effectively enforced to ensure it.

 

[ghazi52]

26 seed companies qualify for bidding to produce seed varieties

Agriculture research institute developed seeds that are high yielding and disease-resistant. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: The ground is set to involve private sector in production of high-yield and disease-resistant seeds of different crops in the country under the Plant Breeders Rights Act 2016.

Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Director General Abid Mahmood informed that 26 private seed companies have qualified for bidding to produce four seed varieties of three different crops evolved by AARI scientists.

After the completion of the prequalification process, the bidding is now scheduled to be held on January 15, 2019, he added.

Quoting details, Mahmood informed that Pakistan imported seeds of different value-added crops to the tune of billions of rupees to meet the needs of the domestic market

“This is actually a stigma for an agrarian country, which was once considered a food basket of the sub-continent,” he voiced concern.

The director disclosed that AARI had developed a new and much-awaited variety of BT cotton, one variety of tomato and two varieties of maize, which are disease-resistant, high yielding and compatible to the country’s climatic conditions.

He appreciated the fact that the said varieties were declared successful in field trials and hence Punjab Seed Council approved these varieties for mass cultivation.

“AARI has decided to auction the production of seeds of these crops in collaboration with the private sector,” he shared. “The successful company, out of the 26 companies, will be responsible to produce and market seeds of these crops.”

He continued that the seed developer will be liable for a royalty also.

He lauded that these seeds, which the country imported for billions of rupees, would now be available within the country.

Terming the initiative a major step towards import substitution, the director claimed it would aid Pakistan in bridging the gap between imports and exports.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan eager to boost fruit exports

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan has expressed the desire to boost trade between Pakistan and Tajikistan as the former produces the world’s best kinnows and mangoes. In a meeting with Tajikistan Ambassador Jononov Sherali on Wednesday, he agreed to hold a meeting of the Pakistan-Tajikistan Ministerial Commission by April this year to discuss matters of mutual benefit in the agriculture sector. The federal minister said Tajikistan must consider the import of Pakistani mangoes as the Central Asian state was already importing dairy products, sugar and potato from Pakistan.

 

[Moon]

26 seed companies qualify for bidding to produce seed varieties

Agriculture research institute developed seeds that are high yielding and disease-resistant. PHOTO: FILE

FAISALABAD: The ground is set to involve private sector in production of high-yield and disease-resistant seeds of different crops in the country under the Plant Breeders Rights Act 2016.

Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI) Director General Abid Mahmood informed that 26 private seed companies have qualified for bidding to produce four seed varieties of three different crops evolved by AARI scientists.

After the completion of the prequalification process, the bidding is now scheduled to be held on January 15, 2019, he added.

Quoting details, Mahmood informed that Pakistan imported seeds of different value-added crops to the tune of billions of rupees to meet the needs of the domestic market

“This is actually a stigma for an agrarian country, which was once considered a food basket of the sub-continent,” he voiced concern.

The director disclosed that AARI had developed a new and much-awaited variety of BT cotton, one variety of tomato and two varieties of maize, which are disease-resistant, high yielding and compatible to the country’s climatic conditions.

He appreciated the fact that the said varieties were declared successful in field trials and hence Punjab Seed Council approved these varieties for mass cultivation.

“AARI has decided to auction the production of seeds of these crops in collaboration with the private sector,” he shared. “The successful company, out of the 26 companies, will be responsible to produce and market seeds of these crops.”

He continued that the seed developer will be liable for a royalty also.

He lauded that these seeds, which the country imported for billions of rupees, would now be available within the country.

Terming the initiative a major step towards import substitution, the director claimed it would aid Pakistan in bridging the gap between imports and exports.

Hopefully the seeds produced by these plants are fertile and can be used by the farmers to save costs.

 

[ghazi52]

Baharia sunflower cultivation should be completed by mid-Feb

FAISALABAD : Agriculture experts advised the farmers to start Baharia sunflower cultivation immediately and complete it by mid of February to get bumper crop. A spokesman of the agriculture department told APP here on Monday that the best suitable time for Baharia sunflower cultivation was from January 1st to February 15. Therefore, the growers should start cultivation as last sowing could not only damage the quality of grain but also caused loss in production. He said that the growers should cultivate approved sunflower varieties like Hi-sun-33, Hi-sun-39, Agora-4, NK-278, FH-331, DK-4040, G-101 and 64-A-93 because these varieties were disease resistant. He said that sunflower was an important edible oil producing crop which could help Pakistan to trim its import bill of edible oil. This crop took 130 days only for its maturity with comparatively less cost and very high dividend. Therefore, the government also decided to promote sunflower cultivation by providing of Rs 5000 per acre on its crops, he added.

Responding to a question, he said a number of teams of agriculture department have been activated for training and guidance of sunflower growers in Faisalabad. These teams were imparting training to the growers by arranging awareness sessions at village level.

 

[ghazi52]

Sugarcane cultivation should be started from February

FAISALABAD - Growers have been advised to start the cultivation of sugarcane from first week of February and complete it by March 15 to get a bumper yield. Spokesman of the agriculture extension department said that farmers should cultivate approved varieties of sugarcane over maximum space. Among the approved varieties of sugarcane include CP-77-400, CP-72-2086, CP-43-33, CPF-243, HSF-240, SPSG-26, SPF-213, SPF-245 and COJ-84, he said and added that further necessary information could be obtained from agriculture helpline 0800-15000 and 0800-29000