ISLAMABAD – Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms and StatisticsDivision Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar says special emphasis will be laid ondeveloping and modernizing agriculture sector in the next five year plan.

Chairing a consultative meeting on Agriculture Sector Development inIslamabad today (Tuesday), he said both short and long term strategies willbe devised to enhance agriculture growth and its contribution to thecountry’s GDP.

The Minister said agriculture sector was neglected in the last plan and itsgrowth remained dismal during the last five years which is evident from thefact that almost all targets in this area were missed.

He underlined that the progress of agriculture sector provides a sound basefor economic development and the present Government is paying specialattention on agriculture development by focusing on improving its keysectors including livestock and fisheries.

He said yield of major crops like cotton, wheat, sugarcane and rice will beenhanced by adopting best irrigation and farming practices, efficient watermanagement and quality agriculture inputs.

He said Livestock and fisheries sectors also offer great export potentialthat will be harnessed to boost the country’s exports.

Khusro Bakhtyar said development of agriculture sector will also help inpoverty reduction as a large number of country’s population was attachedwith this key field…