PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will spend Rs 6 billion on agriculture to ensure food security and generate employment opportunities, official sources told The Nation on Thursday. The sources said that the vision of KP Agriculture Department is to see a prosperous and food secured rural population with exportable surpluses to generate employment and income opportunities in the province.

To achieve the set targets, the KP government has allocated Rs 6 billion for promotion of agriculture sector in the new fiscal year budget, they said.

According to the official sources, the provincial government has started 45 new projects which included the repair of 600 water courses, construction of 260 water tanks, veterinary clinics, development of fisheries, poultry sectors and improvement of irrigation system.

Moreover, orchards will be planted on more than 3000 acres of land. The sources further said that more than 600 technology transfer centers will also be established to boost the agriculture production.

The officials said that certainly KP has almost an agrarian economy. Agriculture and Livestock contributes around 24 per cent of the provincial GDP. Agriculture engages more than 50 per cent of the labour force of KP.

Apart from, diversification into horticulture and rural based agriculture processing units offer promising avenues for increasing the income of rural households. It would help to alleviate poverty in the province.

Besides, a sum of Rs 136 million would be transferred to the district level offices, sources said. In addition, a project Establishment of KP Seed Corporation costing Rs 600 million is proposed to make the province self-sufficient and independent in seed requirement and enhancement of crop production through integrated research approach in KP costing Rs 40 million are proposed in the ADP 2016-17.

To enhance water use efficiency, minimize water losses, control soil erosion and surface run-off, develop cultivable waste land to bring more area under corps and enhance productivity, new schemes including Reclamation of Degraded Soil through Soil Conservation Practices, Small Farmers Land Development, Productivity Enhancement through OFWM Interventions and Lining/Improvement of Water Courses have also been proposed.

The KP government which has also been focusing on agriculture sector is trying its level best to ensure the provision of agricultural machinery to small land holders to help them in boosting economy of the province.

Today’s economy is based on research, thus, KP government has proposed up-gradation of Kaghan Agriculture Research Station to Research Institute for Development of Winter ad High Value Crops, they informed.

Apart from that the KP government has also proposed establishment of Agriculture University of Nowshera for promotion of high value agriculture, they concluded.