Islamabad: The Senate was informed on Tuesday that the government plans to extend agricultural loans to small farmers in the dairy and livestock sectors through various banks. This initiative is part of a broader effort to bolster agricultural production across the country.
According to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, during a session held in response to a query at the Question Hour, Minister of Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasized the importance of the IT and agriculture sectors as key drivers of the economy. He highlighted that the State Bank of Pakistan had launched several initiatives in the past five years to broaden the reach of agricultural credit to farmers nationwide.
The Minister pointed out that these efforts had led to a significant increase in the disbursement of agriculture credit, which surged by 82.4 percent from 1,215 billion rupees in 2020 to 2,216 billion rupees by the end of June this year.
In a separate discussion, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal reported a modest rise of 0.93 percent in textiles and apparel exports during the last financial year. Additionally, Minister for Water Resources Musadik Malik responded to a Calling Attention Notice regarding proposed changes to the IRSA Act, 1992. He assured the Senate that no action would be taken without Parliament’s approval. Malik also noted that the document related to the IRSA Act changes had unanimous support from all IRSA members and was aimed at improving water efficiency.
Furthermore, Malik provided details on water requirements for preventing sea erosion, noting that around 8.62 million acre feet of water needs to flow downstream Kotri, with the actual flow in the first six months of this year being approximately 18.8 million acre feet.
The session also saw Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani suspend Senator Falak Naz for two days due to the use of inappropriate language. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday afternoon.