Water plan to boost agriculture

ISLAMABAD: A medium-term plan to increase water resources is being undertaken for sustainable development of agriculture in the country.

According to official sources, the plan envisages an additional storage capacity of 4.5 MAF of water and cultivation of nearly another million acres of land, creating thousands of jobs.

Pakistan has an immensely productive agrarian potential but harnessing it on a sustainable basis has always remained a distant dream. The vulnerabilities to which agriculture is exposed were only brought to sharper focus in the wake of recent drought. Growers face price uncertainty and poor marketing methods, a narrow export base of agriculture value-added largely confined to crop sector and a limited supply of credit compared to actual needs.

A financial assistance package for farmers has been drawn up with the help of all public financial institutions to provide funding for water conservation and development. —APP

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