ISLAMABAD: Almost at the verge of completing third year of his five-year term in office, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has realised that the country’s agriculture is not performing well and, therefore, requires some serious intervention at the policy-making level.

“Taking note of various issues that are keeping the agriculture sector under constant and growing pressure, the prime minister has been pleased to direct that immediate consultative process may be initiated to develop an integrated framework for the sector, with a view to achieving positive outcomes,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office on Friday.

Mr Sharif is on a visit to Saudi Arabia and the statement was released with the signature of Fawad Hasan Fawad, secretary to the prime minister.

Critics are of the opinion that being mainstay of the country’s GDP, agriculture at the very outset should have been the foremost priority of the government. Over 40 per cent of GDP depends on the agriculture sector. They said the areas which the prime minister wanted to be addressed in the integrated framework to uplift the sector were an open secret and only required action on ground instead of mere paperwork.

Others said that since Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan had of late regularly highlighted the woes of farmers, the federal government had woken up to the seriousness of the situation.

At a by-election rally for NA-101 in Wazirabad, the PTI chief had accused the government of ignoring the agriculture sector.

The areas to be targeted in the proposed integrated framework included promotion of new crops and modern techniques, revitalisation of agricultural research institutions, re-establishment of the research system by synergising federal and provincial institutions, re-origination of research for developing better crop varieties in terms of yield and disease and pest persistence, new system of funding with a focus on research output rather than investing in buildings and unnecessary employment, measures for mitigating impact of climate change on the sector, a long-term groundwater policy aimed at ensuring availability as well as efficient utilisation of this scarce resource, a comprehensive framework for seed certification, fertiliser availability at affordable rate and regulation of pesticide business.

The statement said: “The prime minister has desired that the Ministry of National Food Security and Research shall start a consultation process immediately, involving the governments and stakeholders.”

He also asked the ministry to ensure that the consultative process was finalised well in time for approval of recommendations and allocation of necessary funds in budget for financial year 2016-17.

Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, who had worked at the finance ministry in various positions during the Musharraf government, described the prime minister’s initiative as a lip-service to the agricultural sector.

Unfortunately, he said, the agriculture ministry had been a four-crop ministry — wheat, sugarcane, rice, cotton — and the minister two-crop — wheat and cotton.

Dr Khan, who at present is dean of social sciences at NUST, regretted that the successive governments had only focused on four major crops and ministers had always come from wheat or cotton growing areas.

Sitting Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan is from Multan.

According to Dr Khan, 57 per cent of the value-addition comes from livestock and 30pc from four major crops – wheat, sugarcane, rice and cotton. The remaining 13pc depends on minor crops, including vegetables. Likewise, 88pc of the agricultural sector is constituted by small farmers who own about 12 acres or less, but the policy making is in the hands of representatives of the remaining 12pc who are always interested in support price.

According to Dr Khan, support price only benefits landlords. Special focus on livestock and research on ways of helping small farmers, instead of filling the already fully lined pockets of big landholders, was the only way forward, he added.

About the Kisaan package announced by the federal government before the local bodies’ elections in Punjab, senior PTI leader Jahangir Tareen claimed that the money distributed under the package had been utilised to achieve certain political objectives.

“In my district of Lodhran, about Rs300 million was distributed under the package to influence the by-election,” he said, adding that the prime minister had also announced a development package of Rs2.5 billion for the district, but after losing the by-election in NA-154 the government had refused to release the promised fund.

“I have twice written to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for the release of the money, but to no avail,” Mr Tareen said.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2016