Direly needed package.

The massive Kissan Package announced few days back by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was indeed a direly needed package of incentives and relief measures as the farming community was bracing itself to assess and overcome the huge losses and damages they had suffered due to heaviest and unprecedented rains and floods which had almost fully washed away standing crops including cotton, rice and sugarcane over almost forty lakh acres in the severely flood hit areas of the country. Through the Kissan Package, the government may be able to meet the demands put forth by the farming community. The package involves Rs.1800 billion that must be spent in the ongoing financial year-four times more than what they were getting last year.

The farming community's representatives have not wasted time in welcoming and appreciating the Kissan Package. Hopefully, they will be fully availing it to rehabilitate themselves so that they can work with renewed zeal and vigor, strengthening the agriculture sector and national economy as a result. Indeed, the federal government deserves credit for allocating this substantial amount for the package despite facing financial constraints and certainly such a huge investment in the agriculture sector is worth making. Pakistan is an agrarian country but regrettably, it has to import staple products like wheat, sugar, cotton and pulses mainly due to the bitter fact that this sector is never paid attention.

Such a package was surely needed as the agriculture sector had suffered heavily due to the recent unprecedented rains and floods caused by climate change in Sindh and South Punjab. Resultantly, prices of agricultural commodities have shot up due to the shortage and disruption of supplies.

We must also appreciate that the federal government took a timely decision to allocate Rs.11 billion for waiving off the mark up on the loans taken by the farmers in the flood affected areas. Similarly, the Centre and the provinces will also be providing more than Rs.8 billion to small farmers in the floods hit areas, besides the substantial allocation of Rs.50 billion for providing easy loans to the youngsters residing in the rural areas and willing to become professional farmers.

The package also envisages measures such as reducing the fertiliser prices and ensuring availability of urea in sufficient quantities. This is in addition to the provision of solar panels for tube wells, introduction of instalments for electricity bills...