NA Speaker forms body to devise strategy to raise agri productivity

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser formed a taskforce to devise a practical strategy for enhancing farmers’ access to affordable production loans to raise agricultural productivity.

He was presiding a meeting of the National Assembly Special Committee on Agricultural products on Tuesday at the Parliament House in which governor State Bank of Pakistan virtually attended the meeting as special invitee.

He urged the Governor State Bank of Pakistan to nominate a senior official to the taskforce comprising members of the National Assembly, ZTBL President, Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research. The governor State Bank of Pakistan welcomed the formation of the taskforce and assured complete support to the committee on matters of farmers' financial inclusion and economic development. The NA Speaker stated that agriculture sector constitutes almost 19% of Pakistan’s economy. “However, there is wide gap between what agriculture contributes to the national economy and what it gets in terms of lending from formal sources,” he said.

The NA Speaker stated that access to cheap and affordable production loan was very crucial to enhance small farmers’ productivity and help them break the vicious cycle of abject poverty. “The significantly larger gap in demand and supply of agricultural loans warrants comprehensive and dispassionate analysis,” he said. He also briefed the members of the committee on various initiatives of the State Bank of Pakistan and answered their questions.