"Mark-up rate on agriculture loans should not be more than 5 percent, which at present is 14 percent, while investment on agriculture research should be increased to 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is at the movement is 0.2 percent," said president Pakistan Kissan Ittehad Khalid Mehmood Khokhar while addressing a consultative meeting.
He said that politics should not be played over the growing issues of farmers and the government must resolve the problems being faced by farmers. The prices of fertilizers and other input materials, especially pesticides, have gone up; therefore, these should be reduced to bring them at par with the Indian fertilizers prices, he said, adding that 30 percent subsidy should be given on import of pesticides.
Khokhar demanded the government to withdraw 5 percent sales tax on agriculture machinery and equipment. He said that agriculture export mechanism should be devised for wheat, potato, rice, mango, orange and vegetable crops. Major crops should be given support or indicative price, as India has announced it, he said.
Khokhar said that potato crisis should be resolved on immediate basis and about 500,000 tonnes mandate be given to PASSCO or food department to overcome the crisis.
Rabia Sultan, a progressive farmer said that the government has announced rebate on export of sugar but did not give the same protection to growers. She said that the government of Punjab needs to strictly implement agriculture policy announced by it recently. "Every government announces agriculture policy does not implement it," she regretted, adding that the government needs to improve agriculture extension in provinces.
Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, said that previous government ignored agriculture sector. "No one properly raised voice in the Parliament to address the issues of agriculture sector, so we all are responsible for poor agriculture growth," he said.
He said that the present government has special focus on agriculture sector and improving this sector is one of its top priorities. The government is taking various steps to improve agriculture research in order to increase per acre yield, he said.
The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fahmida Mirza, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Members of National Assembly from different political parties.