100 Mln US Dollars Approved for Boost of Agriculture in PakistanThe Pakistani government April 7 approved 6 billion rupees (about 100 million US dollars) as an agriculture promotion strategy for provincial water projects along with an additional 100 million rupees of credit line (about 1.67 million dollars) for drip and sprinkler irrigation system.This was stated by Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Khair Muhammad Junejo while briefing the local media about the decisions of the high level meeting on agriculture strategy held here under the chairmanship of Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf. The strategy which is aimed at boosting agricultural production will help extend more facilities to farmers in the country to step up their efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in agriculture sector, said the minister. He also noted that the government had come to a decision during the meeting that production of cotton, wheat and tea would be increased and area under rice and sugar cane will be, wherever possible, substituted by appropriate crops such as cotton, sugar beet and pulses in view of water shortage. According to him, 1 billion rupees (about 16.67 million dollars) will be provided for skimming wells particularly in drought-hit areas and for installation of 10,000 tubewells in all the four provinces. |
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