PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agriculture department has announced a mega Rs100.750 million incentives package for sugarcane growers to cater people’s requirements for sugar and improve socio-economic conditions of farmers in the province.
Deputy Director Planning of Agriculture department, Dr Murad Ali told APP on Friday that a comprehensive incentive plan has been prepared for sugarcane growers during first 100 days of PTI government to encourage farmers and sugarcane growers.
Under the package, he said Rs100.750 million incentives would be given to sugarcane growers aimed at to increase ‘Gur and Sugar production besides financially facilitating poor farmers in all districts of KP.
“Direct incentives will be provided to farmers in the shape of nurseries, kits and machines under the plan,” he said.
KP is blessed with variety of climates suitable for cultivation of all kinds of crops including sugarcane, vegetables and fruits. The plain areas of KP including Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Peshawar, Kohat, Karak, DI Khan, Bannu and Haripur are most suited for sugarcane farming due to presence of an effective irrigation system and vast area for cultivation of this cash crop.
Terming sugarcane is one of the main crops of KP, he said in 2015-16 it was sown on an area of 111,586 hectares having production of 5,472,889 tons. Traditional cultivation techniques of this crop are labourious, costly and water exhaustive and per hectare yield of sugarcane of KP is low compared to other provinces of the country.
To address these challenges, he said introduction and dissemination of modern Chip Budding Technology (CBT) will be introduced which on one hand will reduce the inputs cost and on other hand will improve the yield up to 50pc without increasing the area under the crop. This will also add to the conservation of irrigation water up to 15pc.
He said chip budding is one of the easier forms of grafting. “A bud, rather than a shoot, is attached to a rootstock to make a new plant. With practice, this technique can be mastered by anyone and just one bud is needed to make a tree that is very efficient besides making good impact on sugarcane production.”
Dr Murad said approximately 10,500 farmers would be benefited from this goal oriented package. He informed each farmer will be provided Rs9995.238 as incentive in order to bolster sugarcane sector in the province.
He said the department has chalked out special plans for capacity buildings of farmers and sugarcane growers and will hold farmers conventions, field days and seminars to increase their technical know how regarding how to get maximum production.
plan to establish marble city in Buner
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has finalised a plan to establish a Marble City in Buner to facilitate investors besides promoting marble and granite sector in the province. The provincial government assigned Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) to procure 1,615 kanals land for establishing the marble city with the estimated cost of Rs745 million. The provincial government has constructed 6 kilometers link road by spending a sum of Rs27.2 million to facilitate transportation of marble and granite.
According to a document, district Buner is highest marble producing areas with the estimated marble potential of over 1,700 million tonnes. Mineral Development Department has initiated a Competitive Industries Project in collaboration with the World Bank at a cost of US $9 million for establishing a Mine Machinery Pool at Risalpur, Nowshera to promote the mechanized mining of dimension stones across the province including Buner.
Thirteen sets of machinery are being utilized in dimension stones quarries and the provincial government is considering to add twenty more sets of machinery to the existing Machinery Pool. The Ministry of Industries & Production, Government of Pakistan has also established a dedicated company, Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) for the value chain development of the marble and granite sector by introducing mechanization on international standards.
The company has established three mechanized quarry projects in Buner and is facilitating the mine owners by providing mechanized mining machinery on subsidized rental basis through its Machinery Pool.