Steps being taken to boost agriculture sector: minister

LAHORE: Use of modern agricultural machinery is indispensable for increasing agricultural production, said Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani here Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting with distributors of agriculture machinery, the minister said that present government is taking effective measures for development of agriculture sector and has allocated Rs400 billion for "Transforming Punjab Agriculture" programme.

He added that farmers will be provided with interest-free loans from banks and their tube wells will be shifted to solar. Government is promoting corporate farming for which use of modern agricultural machinery and equipment is the need of the hour. The Current government is providing 2,000 rice straw shredders and 5,000 super seeders to the farmers under this programme, he maintained. Apart from this, 25 thousand modern agricultural machinery will also be provided to the farmers on subsidy. Minister for Agriculture Punjab listened to the problems of the dealers and assured to resolve them as per law immediately.

He endorsed that the dealers and distributors should import modern and new agricultural machinery so that it can be delivered to the farmers through service providers.

By using these machines losses will be minimised during harvesting. He said that government will provide them all possible facilities in this regard. Minister for Agriculture said that Kubota machine was introduced for rice harvesting some time ago and farmers adopted it in a very short period of time seeing its usefulness and now most of the rice harvesting is being done by Kabota.

He added that Punjab government is making great efforts to control smog and to achieve this goal, the departments of agriculture, industry and transport are directed to implement a plan with letter and spirit. On this occasion, Secretary agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that the promotion of modern agricultural machinery will be done in a phased manner and in this regard, a full session of service providers and dealers will be conducted.

Apart from this, demos will also be conducted to encourage farmers to promote agricultural machinery. The meeting was attended by Additional Secretary Agriculture Task Force, Punjab Muhammad Shabir Ahmad Khan, Director General Agriculture Field Engineer Sohail Ahmed, Consultant Agriculture Department Dr. M Anjum Ali, and Director Agriculture Information, Punjab Naveed Asmat Kahloon.

FJMU syndicate meeting: The 37th syndicate meeting of Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU) was held under the chairmanship of Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique.

Additional Secretaries Zahida Azhar and Dr Sidra from Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education, Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Kamran Khalid Khawaja, Prof Shireen Khawar, Registrar Prof Nadeem, Prof Shamsa Humayun, Prof Balqis Shabbir, MS Gangaram Hospital Dr Hafiz Moin ud din, Principal College of Nursing and Midwifery Zamrad and Syed Farrukh Ali Shah were present in the meeting. Representatives of Finance, Higher Education, Law and other officers also participated in the meeting as syndicate members.

The minister endorsed the decisions of the 36th syndicate meeting of the varsity. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal also highlighted the efforts of the varsity with reference to Green Pakistan project. During the syndicate meeting, Punjab Thalassemia and Genetic Disorders Prevention Institute was allowed to tender for purchase of chemicals for DNA and Hematology Lab. During the Syndicate meeting, Curriculum for the BS Midwifery four-year degree program me was approved.