Karachi:The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) urged the business community of Pakistan to diversify and set up hydrphonic farms and agri-based units all along the coastal highways.
Zulfikar Thaver president UNISAME alongwith Haji Saeed chairman Small Medium Farmers Association (SMEFA) and leaders of the business community Haji Muhammad Hussain Khandwalla and Shahid Khadiawalla visited Dhabeji, Gharo, Babra, Sakro, Gujjo, Thatta and Sujawal as first leg of agricultural promotional visit and appreciated the good work done by the Sindh government and the facilities provided to the business community.
The team was impressed with the roads and the infrastructure.
Thaver said it is now for the business community to come forward and invest and set up hydroponic farms and fish farms and related agro-based units for value addition to crops, fruits, flowers and vegetables. There is so much idle land and with effort and hard work it can bear fruits.
Haji Saeed said the Sindh government has set up the Investment Secretariat and the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) is also playing an important role in promoting agricultural produce processing units for value addition.
Khandwalla and Khadiawalla both appreciated the efforts of UNISAME for promotion of private Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the country and also efforts for widening the definition of SMEs to include the higher medium sector with annual turnover up to Rupees one billion. This has become necessary due to the depreciation of the rupee.
Shahid Khadiawalla urged the government to promote the growing of sunflower for oil production as huge amount of foreign exchange goes in import of palm oil.
Muhammad Hussain emphasized on promotion of growing of tea, olives and pulses scientifically wherever feasible to reduce imports.
The locals of the rural areas also gathered to welcome the team and they asked the irrigation department for the cleaning and lining of canals for better cultivation and yields.
It was very encouraging to see the silos installed and also the solar energy generation systems and the tube wells.
Farming and value addition to farm produce is the need of the hour and the government must focus on giving the farm sector priority through financial inclusion and scientific upgradation, Thaver said.