Rs50bn subsidy on farm inputs on the cards, says Fakhar.

MULTAN -- Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has said the government is going to announce a Rs50 billion relief package for farmers in terms of subsidy on various agriculture inputs.

Talking to the media here on Wednesday, after he distributed Eid gifts among the children of Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, the minister said the government was making all-out efforts to facilitate the farming community.

He said the subsidy would be provided to the farmers on pesticides, fertilizers and other agriculture inputs through provincial governments.

Mr Imam said the country was facing the challenge of locust attack and the efforts were under way to counter it.

'Locusts that can travel as far as 170km a day entered Pakistan after 27 years. It entered in our region in March 2019. It continued breeding in Balochistan from where it is spreading and entering our fertile areas,' he said.

He said as Pakistan lacked experts, China sent a 10-member team of experts to help us control locusts. Prime Minister Imran Khan had declared national emergency in view of locusts attack in January, he added.

'Measures are being taken under National Action Plan to control the attack of locusts which arrived in our country from East Africa through Middle East. The teams of agriculture department and Pakistan Army are busy in controlling locusts, while deputy commissioners of various districts are also participating in the [anti-locust] campaign,' he said.

He said the farmers whose crops had been damaged by locusts would be compensated financially...