LAHORE, June 17: The Punjab government on Tuesday allocated Rs7.5 billion to subsidise biogas and solar tubewells for small farmers in the province.
The continued power crises have caught farmers and farming in a vicious circle of low yield, said Punjab Minister for Finance Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman in his budget speech. This allocation would help them break free from those shackles.
“The crisis has affected agriculture production and pushed farmers down the poverty line. The money is to help them lift out of poverty,” the minister said.
Apart from this allocation, the province set aside Rs5.5 billion for the agriculture sector to achieve “food security, self-reliance, efficient marketing system and avert losses from insects, pests, weed, salinity and alkalinity etc”.
The major share (Rs4.50 billion) of the development plan would go to the Punjab Irrigated Agricultural Productivity Improvement project. Under the project, 7,000 watercourses in the province would be lined, the High Efficiency Irrigation System would be installed on 120,000 acres and farmers would be given 3,000 laser levellers.
Out of the development plan allocation, the province plans to upgrade agriculture education facilities. A new university would be built in Multan and another sub-campus of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad would be established in Burewala. A mango research institute would be set-up in Multan. Hostel facilities would be provided to women employees and farmers at the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad. For those already in service, a training facility would be set-up at Karor, Layyah. Potential for biogas production would be tapped and poultry production would be encouraged in rural areas.
In addition, Rs1.44 billion has been allocated for the livestock and dairy development. With this amount, Punjab plans to develop marketing infrastructure at Layyah, Mianwali, Khushab and Bhakkar. It envisages restructuring and reorganisation of breeding services, especially strengthening the Buffalo Research Institute, Pattoki.
The province is hoping to promote per animal productivity rather than increasing numbers. Focus on animal husbandry and nutritional value of the feed is also part of the provincial strategy.
The current allocation of Rs1.44 billion is, however, less than last year’s Rs1.65 billion. In 2011-12, the allocation was Rs2.5 billion, which has now dropped to Rs1.44 billion in the last two years.