The federal agriculture budget this year would be remembered for “not doing what was necessary” rather than for the “actions it has taken”. A clear reflection of this new national policy can be seen in allocations for development schemes. The finance bill tells us that it has “spared Rs4 billion for 10 ongoing schemes and five new ones — 15 in total”. On average, it is an allocation of Rs260 million per scheme that would cover the entire country and all seven provinces — showing where the sector fits in the federal scheme of things.

These allocations have been made for a sector which grew only by 0.56 per cent — primarily because of livestock (4.72pc), forestry (3.03pc) and fisheries (1.42pc) — otherwise the crop sector had a reverse growth of 6.82pc, neutralising the hard work of all its sub-sectors.

And this is also a sector that we want to grow by a miraculous 4.5pc. If this next year’s growth target is not a perfunctory joke, the federal setup needs a serious introspection — the gap between the actions and the claims looks unbridgeable, especially given the policy and financial vacuum the budget has created.

Other actions it has taken also appear abstract. They include forming a national committee to consult with provinces for (finding ways to) improving the sector, starting a “Clean Financing Facility” for a loan up to Rs100,000 without collateral, forming a National Seed........

© Dawn Business