Pakistan Agriculture Developments

[ghazi52]

Chinese companies keen to invest in agriculture, housing sectors

February 02, 2019

FILE PHOTO

A delegation of China Machinery Engineering and Hanon Construction during a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in Lahore today (Saturday) expressed interest in investment in agriculture and housing sectors.

The delegation expressed willingness to transfer technology to the province for construction of low-cost houses. The delegation also apprised the Chief Minister about the progress on Jhang Power Plant.

Speaking on this occasion, Sardar Usman Buzdar said Pakistan and China are tied in bond of exemplary friendship. He said Pak-China friendship has assumed a new dimension in the tenure of PTI government.

The Chief Minister said all possible facilities will be provided to the Chinese investors in Punjab.

He said agriculture is the backbone of economy of the province.

Usman Buzdar said 'Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme' is revolutionary project to provide roof to the common man.

Presiding over a meeting to review matters of the Inland Water Transport Development Company (IWTDC) in Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar directed to use boats of company for the promotion of tourism.

He directed to constitute a high-level committee that will present recommendations to hand over assets of the company to other departments.

He said that building of IWTDC should be converted into a rest-house for the promotion of tourism as there are many tourism promotion possibilities in Dawood Khel area of Mianwali.

 

[ghazi52]

Need to tap huge Chilghoza export potential

Pine nuts commonly known as ‘Chilghoza’, the most favourite and popular dry fruit, has gone beyond the reach of common man as its hiking price made it impossible for even to think of buying it.

Being sold at Rs6,000 per kg domestically, good quality nuts that have market, both at national and international levels can bring huge sum of money to national exchequer if exported specially to China and Japan as there is a great demand of these nuts.

Balochistan, a land rich with minerals and fruits, has large number of forests bearing Pine Nuts at the Suleiman Mountain Range of Zhob and Sherani districts. The steep mountainous terrain of the area with arid ecology provides suitable climatic and topographical conditions for the growth of ‘Chilghoza’ plants.

 

[ghazi52]

The Ministry of Climate Change and National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to use drone technology for its ‘10 Billion Tree Tsunami’ project to fight climate change.

According to details, as part of the country’s strategy to use drone technology to plant millions of trees and strengthen the ‘Clean Green Pakistan Movement’, the Ministry of Climate Change signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP).

Irfan Tariq, director-general in charge of environment in the Climate ministry, and Rashid Bajwa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NRSP have inked the accord.

Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on climate change Amin Aslam, who witnessed the signing, said that modern technology, like drone, will also be used for the plantation of 10 billion tree across the country.

"In addition to this, a Rs100 million ‘Challenge Fund for Climate Smart Projects’ will be launched, starting from March, to encourage youth engagement in climate-smart activities," Amin Aslam added.

 

[ghazi52]

Rafhan Maize Products Faisalabad

Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd., is located at Faisalabad, about 1100 kilometers north of Karachi, in Pakistan. The Company processes thousands of tons of corn every year to produce high quality food ingredients and industrial products.

 

[ghazi52]

PM Khan kicks off tree plantation drive at Nankana Sahib, vows to protect Pakistan's forests
February 09, 2019

The prime minister planted a sapling at Balloki, where he was also briefed about the tree plantation drive. —PID

Prime Minister Khan says forest land leased in Punjab should be retrieved and protected at all costs. —PID
Prime Minister Imran Khan, while launching a spring tree plantation campaign at Balloki, Nankana Sahib on Saturday, said that Pakistan's forests would be protected at all costs.

The prime minister planted a sapling at Balloki, where he was also briefed about the tree plantation drive.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Khan said that forest land leased out in Punjab should be retrieved, noting that forest cover in Pakistan is already very low as compared to the rest of the countries in the region.

He pointed out that there used to be large forests in Chichawatni, Mianwali and Changa Manga, which have all but disappeared now.

Speaking about the alarming rate at which Pakistan's forests have been depleted, he said that Pakistan's forests should be protected at any cost.

"70 percent of Pakistan's forests have been cut down in the past few years, which has created an imbalance in our environment," Prime Minister Khan said.

"We are now going to allow builders to build higher buildings just so our cities can stop expanding [horizontally] and encroaching on our forests," he said, adding that the health of Pakistan's elderly population, as well as of children, is continuously declining "since the air we breath is getting more and more contaminated."

"Our children do not have parks to play in anymore; all of those places have been taken over by concrete and cement, this needs to stop," the prime minister said while stressing the need for rehabilitation of forests.

While addressing the crowd, Prime Minister Khan announced that his government will also create a wildlife reserve under Baba Guru Nanak's name and that Nankana Sahib will also become home to the Baba Guru Nanak university.

 

[ghazi52]

Fish production exceeds 3,200 tons per annum in KP

Fish production in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has exceeded 3,200 tons per annum owing to construction of new fish hatcheries and fish farms during the tenure of PTI government to provide quality food to ever growing population.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is blessed with both cold and warm water resources, is offering immense opportunities for fish farming comprising 6,100 kilometers of rivers and streams, 6,400 hectares of natural lakes and 54,600 hectares of dams and reservoirs, an official of Fisheries Department KP told APP on Friday.

“The province has around 1,130 acres area under fish farms and hatcheries where its production has exceeded 3,200 tons per annum following establishment of 38 new Carps and 56 Trout fish farms during last few years in the province,” he said.

 

[AsifIjaz]

Fresh water fish grown in farms in canals, lakes and reservoirs has alot of demand both within and outside the country.
The kpk government should explore this

 

[ghazi52]

Urea off-take expected to increase

According to the provisional off-takes for the month of Jan 2019, the urea sale is likely to go up 5 percent to 566,000 tons. During Jan 2019, the state owned National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML) is expected to record urea sales of 73,000 tons, its highest monthly sales since Feb 2015 as import of 100,000 tons urea makes its way to the market. Amongst local manufacturers, Agritech Limited (AGL) may witness fastest sales growth in its urea sales to 26,000 tons, primarily as a result of low sales in same period of last year due to gas supply issues. On the other hand, market leaders Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) and Engro Fertilizers Limited (EFERT) are expected to record 12 percent and 39 percent drop in their urea offtake to 197k tons and 159k tons, respectively. Total DAP offtakes during the month may contract 14 percent YoY and clock in at 79k tons, where the drop is likely to be led by FFC that may record steep 77 percent YoY drop in its DAP dispatches to just 6k tons. Similarly, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) DAP sales are projected to dip 55 percent YoY to 14k tons.

 

[Pakistansdefender]

H

Rafhan Maize Products Faisalabad

Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd., is located at Faisalabad, about 1100 kilometers north of Karachi, in Pakistan. The Company processes thousands of tons of corn every year to produce high quality food ingredients and industrial products.

Healthy oil but very expensive.

 

[ghazi52]

Sabir Soybean Crushing & Refinery, Bhiki , Sheikhupura

Sadiq Brothers Feed Mill, Mandurah

 

[ghazi52]

Melon cultivation should be started from Feb

FAISALABAD: The agriculture experts have advised the growers to start cultivation of melon with the advent of February to get bumper yield. A spokesman of Agriculture department told APP here Tuesday that the growers should cultivate approved varieties of melon for getting maximum production. Meanwhile, agriculture experts advised the growers of irrigated zones to complete cultivation of potato Rabi crops by January 31 to get bumper yield. Spokesman of the agriculture extension department told APP here that as potato is a rich source of proteins, carbohydrates, potassium and sodium etc so farmers should cultivate approved varieties of potato over maximum space.–APP

 

[ghazi52]

Investors turn focus to Pakistan’s agriculture sector
By Zafar Bhutta
February 11, 2019

Economic zone should be set up in Multan to attract investment in dairy, food production. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The previous government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hailed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a game-changer and mega project, claiming it would boost economic growth. However, the main focus of the project has only been on road infrastructure and power plants.

Pakistan is an agriculture-based economy, where majority of the population directly or indirectly depends on this sector. The agriculture sector contributes around 24% to gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labour force.

It has been a big source of foreign exchange earnings, but sadly the sector has been neglected, forcing people to migrate from rural to urban areas for employment opportunities.

CPEC could have provided an opportunity to boost the agriculture sector, but the previous government failed to pay attention to it. Pakistan has always been a traditional exporter of textile products, but past governments did not pay heed to calls for diversifying exports.

Diversification could have been achieved had there been a policy to ensure value addition in agricultural products for boosting exports. However, not a single farm project was included in CPEC during the PML-N government’s tenure. Then food security minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan had protested in a cabinet meeting for not including the agriculture sector in CPEC.

On the contrary, the current Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government appears to be focused on agriculture and livestock sectors to boost exports and help the farming community. The agriculture sector fuels industrial growth of Pakistan because the country’s industries heavily rely on agriculture and livestock such as textile and leather sectors.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood recently announced during a press talk that the trade deficit would be brought down by $5-6 billion during the ongoing financial year. His major focus is now on reducing imports and enhancing exports.

He was of the view that in order to have sustainable industrial growth in Pakistan, the growth of agriculture was necessary. The adviser’s main focus is on making interventions for the promotion of agricultural trade, agribusiness and investment in agriculture and livestock.

According to officials, the Ministry of Commerce is working on interventions, which are expected to push Pakistan’s agricultural exports. The ministry wants to bring competitiveness in exports of agriculture sector to become a major regional exporter through upgraded production technology and standardised service provision.

It wants to take initiatives to reduce the cost of doing business, promote high-value crops and ensure profit for producers. It also aims to introduce commercial farming integrated with international and domestic value chains.

The commerce ministry is currently identifying impediments in the way of access to complete value chain financing for small farms, cooperatives and commercial farming entities for an agricultural export and import substitution strategy with focus on regional trade.

The trade policy will promote modern logistics and trade infrastructure for the agriculture sector to achieve greater efficiencies in the international and domestic marketing environment.

There is a dire need to move towards precision agriculture technology, big data, etc for higher productivity and quality assurance to meet international quality parameters. The government wants to focus on agricultural research, education and extension to promote export-focused production that cannot be avoided anymore as it is vital for agro-based industrial development.

Pakistan is among leading importers of oil and oilseeds in the region. The government is working on import substitution by bringing innovation in the agriculture sector.

Different countries are now focusing on agriculture in Pakistan. The Netherlands has extended its support for improving agriculture and agro-business. A Dutch agro-business delegation is coming to Pakistan in the first week of March, which is expected to ink agreements for investment, trade and research in agriculture with private-sector companies of Pakistan.

Recently, the government formally approached the Chinese government, seeking support for agricultural research to improve crop productivity and reduce post-harvest losses. Chinese investment and support can turn around Pakistan’s agriculture sector.

The Board of Investment is also trying to lure companies, particularly agro-giants around the globe, to come and invest in Pakistan. Cargill, the US agro-giant, met PM aide Dawood and announced an investment of $200 million in Pakistan’s agriculture sector.

Cargill will bring world-class innovations to support the flourishing dairy industry in Pakistan, which is already moving towards modernisation.

Investors are keen now to invest in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. However, the government should take initiatives to improve the quality of agricultural products, especially in the livestock sector, in line with international standards.

With CPEC, Pakistan is entering into the industrialisation phase and setting up duty-free zones. The government should include the agriculture sector in CPEC for establishing an economic zone in Multan.

International investors should be offered incentives for setting up dairy-related and food product industrial units in the economic zone. In this regard, a Russian delegation visited Pakistan and expressed interest in importing food products and meat during the PML-N’s rule. However, it was not satisfied with the quality standards and therefore an opportunity was missed.

Now, is the time for the PTI government to avail of the opportunity, which could generate employment and boost exports.

 

[ghazi52]

For some crops, rain spells provide relief
February 11, 2019

Third rain spell in the first 37 days of the New Year has come as a huge relief for agriculture sector. — File photo

FOR the shortage-stricken agriculture sector the third rain spell in the first 37 days of the New Year has come as a huge relief. According to the meteorological department officials, another substantial spell will visit Pakistan this week and February will have above normal rain and snowfall.

Riding these spells, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Jan 29 revised water shortage downwards from the previously calculated 38 per cent to the current 33pc. The percentage maybe revised further down in days to come, depending on the next rain spells and improvement in river flows.

The five per cent drop in shortage, in quantified terms, means an additional availability of 1.7 million acre feet of water in the system.

The Irsa system now has additional 1.7maf water from the system. With more to come in the rest of February, savings are bound to go up

These rain spells have already benefited the system in three ways: additional water, decrease in demand and extension in canal closure resulting in further savings.

The Irsa system now has additional 1.7maf water from the system already arrived and exhausted; with more to come in the rest of February, savings are bound to go up.

River flows became healthy as well: total river flows last Thursday were 49,000 cusecs against 35,000 cusecs on the corresponding day last year. Due to the additional availability, the storage position improved to 1.8maf — the same as it was on the corresponding day last year.

At one point, in the beginning of the year, the gap between current and the previous year’s position was of 2maf, which now stands closed as a result of these spells.

Due to these happy signs, the Irsa thinks it may be able to substantially reduce early Kharif shortages, which historically run in the 40s.

Sindh will be particular beneficiary of early Kharif water.

Owing to the rains the provinces have been able to bring their water demand down: for example, Punjab had planned to run its canals at 21,000 cusecs on Feb 7, but the total demand it received for the day was 18,000 cusecs.

As far as extended canal closure is concerned, Punjab, which used to open its canals after Dec 25, now plans to start them on Feb 12. Currently, only 20pc of its irrigation system is running.

Wheat and gram crops are expected to be major beneficiaries. However potato and maize may potentially face some kind of trouble if rains turn torrential and their period extends beyond the current forecast.

For wheat, the current rains have been a boon. With water shortages running at around 40pc farmers were forced to supplement water through expensive tube well pumping, where subsoil water is sweet, and miss it where underground aquifer is brackish.

The other deficit was a shortage of application of Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) due to price factor — its price has gone up by almost Rs1,400 per bag in the last two months. Rain water could meet both these critical requirements.

Gram is the next biggest crop that is totally dependent on rains owing to it being a barani (rain-fed) area crop.

Its statistics underline the importance of the crop: as far as acreage is concerned, gram is the fifth largest crop after wheat (22m acres), cotton (eight million acres), rice (six million acres) and maize (three million acres).

It is sown on 2.7m acres and constitutes 60pc of the cereal import bill. Experts think that rain is as critical for gram as it is for wheat at this stage. If wheat can take care of food security, gram can help reduce the import bill as well as provide the poor with a cheap source of protein.

The two crops, which may possibly face some kind of risk due to the rains, are maize (for sowing) and potato (for harvesting). Farmers are preparing for maize sowing but persistent rains have deterred the effort.

If, as predicted, it rains next week as well, the farmers would be forced to delay maize sowing, especially in Punjab, where the crop covers over 1.8m acres. Though its sowing can be delayed into March, doing so will reflect in the yield. Maize farmers are thus keeping their fingers crossed.

In trouble is the potato crop, which is still 60pc underground and needs to be dug now. If next week’s rains cause water to remain standing in the field, it would block aeration and could damage the yield. Farmers are now de-capping the crop to keep it underground.

 

[ghazi52]

Kitchen gardening: Punjab govt to distribute 100,000 seed kits for spring

The Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD) will distribute over 100,000 seed kits of vegetables to the citizens under the “Kitchen Gardening Programme” during spring season.

According to a PAD spokesman, the department has set up 325 sale points in 36 districts of the province to supply seed kits to the masses at a concessional rate of Rs50 for each packet.

He said the vegetable seeds, which could be grown through kitchen gardening in spring season, would be supplied to the people.

Punjab CM to launch first-ever agri policy on 20th: Minister

Minister for Agriculture Punjab Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial, Minister for Information & Culture Fayyaz-Ul-Hasan Chohan and chairman task force for Pesticides and Fertilizers Malik Masood jointly held a press conference at Agriculture House, Lahore about government initiatives regarding agriculture sector to boost up the growth.

High officials of department and media representatives also attended this press conference. During media briefing session, Minister for Agriculture Punjab Malik Nauman Ahmad Langrial has said that government of Punjab is going to implement first ever agriculture policy in the province soon. Policy draft has already been prepared on 24th October, 2018 and approved by the cabinet which mainly aims at reforming agriculture sector and industry to enhance its role in national economy.

 

[ghazi52]