Pakistan Business Forum urges govt to take concrete steps for agriculture sector

(GNN Correspondent: Ikram Ullah Joyia)

Islamabad: The Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) has written to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, urging the government to take immediate and practical steps to support the country's agriculture sector, which is facing unprecedented challenges due to recent floods.

In the letter, PBF President Khawaja Mahboob Rehman emphasized the need for the government to provide relief to flood-affected farmers and revive the agriculture sector. The forum has made several recommendations, including: restoring the support price for wheat for two years, waiving off electricity bills for three months in flood-affected areas, providing easy loans to farmers in flood-affected areas, announcing a 30% subsidy on urea and DAP fertilizers, postponing the 18% sales tax on local cotton production for two years to provide relief to affected farmers, directing sugar mills to purchase the remaining sugarcane crop at a fair price, postponing the normal tax regime on rice exports for two years.

The PBF has also urged the government to make these recommendations part of an agricultural emergency package. "Merely postponing one month's electricity bill is not enough to support the flood-affected farmers," said Khawaja Mahboob Rehman. "The government needs to take concrete steps to revive the agriculture sector, which is crucial for the country's economy."