During 2006-07, a record disbursement of agricultural credit took place. Against credit allocation of Rs 160 billion, an amount of Rs 168.8 billion was disbursed, which reflects 22.8 percent increase as compared to last year's disbursement. This was disclosed in an Annual Performance Report (2006-07) of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), which was released recently. According to the report, the Public Sector Development Project (PSDP) of Minfal for the year 2006-07 included 61 projects. Out of which 41 were ongoing and 20 new projects to support policy objectives set at the national level. The original PSDP allocation was Rs 11,800 million. The allocation was revised to Rs 13,600 million after mid year PSDP review. However, from the enhanced revised allocation, Rs 329.5 million was not released to Minfal. Moreover, Rs 852.4 million savings indicated by Minfal for re-appropriation for its mega project, 'National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses' was diverted to other Ministry. As such, the Minfal's allocation was reduced to Rs 12,418.1 million. Out of this amount, Rs 1,741.9 million approved for re-appropriation for different projects by the P&D Division was also not released which were finally surrendered. Thus Rs 10,676.2 million was released to Minfal's project upto June, 2007 and against it, the utilisation was of Rs 10,244.37 million which is 96 percent of the amount released. Minfal report mentioned that the other key achievements of the government, during the year 2006-07, have been signing of agriculture specific MoUs/Agreements/Protocols with friendly countries and of MFN status for agricultural exports with various other countries. A number of Joint Ministerial Commissions (JMC) were set-up relating to agricultural development, and policy-level negotiations were undertaken under the WTO regime as well as Safta. Minfal report revealed that government recognises the role of agricultural growth in boosting overall growth of the economy and reducing poverty. For achieving higher growth in agriculture, priority objectives set by Minfal include enhanced productivity to ensure food security, efficient import substitution and export orientation. Within these broad objectives, the main element is to accelerate growth by narrowing existing yield gaps, promotion of agriculture related business enterprises, provision of quality support services to farmers, and market reforms to increase profitability of agriculture for small farmers. Moreover, attention is being focused on increasing the production of major crops like wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice and maize through remunerative market-based prices, evolving new high-yielding varieties requiring low inputs through adaptive research, help improving market and storage facilities with public-private nexus, and providing greater access to farmers for optimal technologies and seasonal credit. Such far-reaching objectives require efficient agriculture institutions to effectively respond to growing and diversifying needs of farmers to accelerate productivity and growth at the grassroots. Minfal has initiated several reforms of the agriculture sector institutions to promote decentralisation and liberalisation of agriculture services. For reforming the research system, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc) is being restructured with more autonomy to the Board of Governors both in formulation of research policy and financial empowerment. Similarly, in agriculture extension, reforms are being conceived to improve research and extension linkages in the backdrop of further decentralising extension services at the union council level. To face the future challenges of policy analysis, APCom's mandate has been redefined to play a meaningful role in the Ministry, priority focusing on agriculture policy issues, monitoring and analysis of international trade agreements for suggesting measures to improve Pakistan agriculture's competitiveness in the global market. To support agribusiness development in the livestock sector, the Prime Minister, in principle, has approved a National Livestock Development Policy. A new market-friendly wheat policy is in place, key elements of which include free wheat marketing, voluntarily selling by farmers at the guaranteed minimum price, and maintaining a clear distinction between operational reserve and strategic reserve by the government. A comprehensive fisheries policy has been prepared and presented to the Prime Minister. In addition to above mentioned policy reforms, Minfal has also undertaken a project for the strengthening of capacity for improvement of agricultural statistics in Pakistan. The objectives of the project are to strengthen the capacity of Provincial Crop Reporting Service (CRS) by providing them motorcycles, vehicles, computers, office equipment, technical equipment and O&M cost for field operations. It will help the CRS in provision of timely agricultural statistics for policy formulation and early warning system. Efforts are underway to augment development component of agriculture through continued supply of financial resources for agriculture sector development to support policy objectives set at the national level. The agriculture sector performed well as compared to the previous year and growth in the agriculture sector bounced back from 1.6 percent in 2005-06 to 5.0 percent in the 2006-07. The major crops registered an impressive growth of 7.6 percent. The minor crops grew by 1.1 percent slightly up from the last year's growth of 0.4 percent. The livestock sector grew by 4.3 percent during 2006-07 as against 7.5 percent in 2005-06. The wheat production of 23.295 million tons during 2006-07 is highest ever in the country's history, registering an increase of 9.5 percent over 2005-06. Sugarcane production improved by 22.6 percent over 2005-06 to 54.7 million tons. Cotton production at 13 million bales remained almost unchanged in comparison to 13.02 million bales in 2005-06. Rice production at 5.4 million tons was marginally lower than 5.5 million tons produced in 2005-06. The major factors responsible for increased agricultural production are, agricultural credit availability, support/intervention prices, government policy of encouraging use of the balanced fertiliser by granting subsidy on phosphatic and potashic fertilisers, increased irrigation water availability and favourable weather conditions particularly during Rabi season. Within crop sector, import substitution and crop diversification are two important development priorities of Minfal. Efforts are being made to maximise oilseed production, such as sunflower and canola etc to substitute imports of edible oil to save foreign exchange. Like-wise under crop diversification programme, government has planned to introduce high value crops to diversify production and to enhance net farm income. The milk and meat production touched the level of 33.2 and 2.6 million tons respectively in 2006-07. It implies 6.2 and 6.6 percent higher production. Fish production was 0.6 million tons ie 3.6 percent higher than in 2005-06. Growth in the targets for milk and meat production and livestock productivity are aligned with Medium Term Development Frame Work (MTDF), which aims to grow by to 6-8 percent annually. Government has provided Rs 100 million for launching 'Grow More Wheat Campaign 2006-2007'. Under the campaign wheat production technologies are being disseminated to the farming community through agriculture extension services in the provinces. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

More than 100 dental clinics in Colombo will participate in a "Go Green' project aiming for zero environmental effect from dental dangerous waste containing mercury. Amalgam separators will soon be installed at the clinics collecting 99 per cent of the amalgam which contains mercury. Sweden Recycling AB, a Swedish environmental oriented company, with financial assistance from the Swedish organisation SIDA, is spearheading this project to reduce the mercury waste coming from dental clinics in Sri Lanka. With this project, Sri Lanka will be the first country in Asia to move towards a safe recycling of dental dangerous waste. Installing amalgam separators will evidence that mercury waste can be reduced instantly. Awarness of the positive effects on the evironment and the benefit of this to humans is expected to lead to a wider use of amalgam separators both on a national and international level. The Sri Lanka Dental Association with 1,500 dentist members, together with Sweden Recycling is offering dental clinics to participate in a subsidised project where dangerous waste will be collected and recycled. Sweden Recycling has during the last 25 years successfully reduced the amount of mercury finding its way into nature, polluting the environment in Nordic countries. In Sweden, more than 500 kg of mercury is yearly recovered by Sweden Recycling from the dental sector. Mercury is a heavy metal which posses the most severe threat to nature and to human beings through pollution caused by inadequate handling of mercury contaminated waste. Dental clinics generally represent approximately 50 per cent of the total amount of mercury being wasted into nature and polluting the environment for decades. Amalgam waste, and thus mercury being its main ingredience in the dental amalgam, has to be collected at source (the dental clinic) according to the mercury strategy adopted by the European Parliament. In Asia pollution caused by mercury waste is not restricted like in Europe and the amalgam pollution continues. Teeth repair with amalgam fillings continue to be the main method for dental proffesionals. Since there is no collection in Asia of waste containing mercury and recovery of mercury the impact of the waste is massive. Many inhabitants in Asia have fish as their most important daily food and the fish is prone to be contaminated by mercury in the water. Mercury will thus be transferred to man and accumulated in the human body with well-known lethal effects. Inducting amalgam separators in dental clinics is thus a big step towards a cleaner environment and consequently less polluted food.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-N) Faisalabad will organise a three-day Agri-skills training workshop here from February 26 to 28. The workshop will focus on sugarcane sowing, disease resistant and high yielding varieties of sugarcane, operation of farmer's field schools and necessary skills to transfer technology. Project Officer WWF Rana Lal Khan Babar said that Dr Arshad Ali Chattha, Director Sugarcane Research Institute Faisalabad, Dr Shahid Afghan, Director Shakar Ganj Sugarcane Research Institute Shakar Ganj Sugar Mills Jhang and Makhdoom Arif Hameed of WWF Lahore will deliver lectures and give presentations. They would also elaborate new technologies to get maximum yield with minimum use of water. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Chief Executive of Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) Sakhi Marjan has urged the consumers to conserve electricity in view of the increasing gap between supply and demand in the country. Seeking consumers' co-operation to the company, the Pesco chief said that the company could overcome the current energy crisis only with the help of consumers. He advised them to stop unnecessary and illegal use of electricity to ensure continued and uninterrupted power supply. For this, the consumers were required to follow the proposals of the company so that they could not face any inconvenience, he said, and appealed to people to conserve energy by means of less consumption, especially during the peak hours, ie rom 6.00 pm to 11.00 pm. He said that Pesco was taking all possible measures to overcome the prevailing energy crisis. The company also urged the industrial consumers to extend their co-operation to save at least 25 percent energy and asked them to close the shopping centres before 7.00 pm and switch off the street lights. It also called for switching off the lights of all billboards to save electricity for the domestic consumers, who were also requested to use energy savers and tubelights instead of bulbs and iron their clothes in day time. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Prime Minister for alternative energy sources to reduce fuel bill ISLAMABAD (February 22 2008): Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Thursday emphasised the need on utilising alternative sources of energy including possible blending of ethanol with petroleum products. The Prime Minister said this while chairing a high level meeting held here to examine the possibility of using ethanol in petroleum products. He directed all the concerned organisations to focus on developing alternative sources of energy to help reducing the prices of petroleum products as well as saving foreign exchange. Expressing concern over the escalation of oil prices in the international market, the Prime Minister underlined the need to employ all available alternative sources of energy which could help sustenance of economic growth. He directed the Petroleum Ministry to finalise its recommendations and strategy in consultation with all the stakeholders. Secretary Petroleum informed the meeting that feasibility study for blending of ethanol with petroleum products was earlier carried out and a pilot project was launched in August 2006 which was completed in March 2007. He said the project established that the ethanol (E-10) blended fuel is environment friendly and economically viable. The meeting was apprised that ethanol is a by-product of molasses which is presently being exported. The local consumption of the product could help reduce the fuel bill and impact the economy in a positive manner. The meeting was also informed that Brazil is the leading country where ethanol is being used as a major alternative source of energy. The other countries which are switching towards this trend include USA, China, European Countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, Thailand and India. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ehsan-ullah-Khan also attended the meeting. Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2008

Pakistan lacks a comprehensive energy efficiency development road map and investment programme and international experience indicates that the effective implementation and incorporation of energy efficiency into the policy mainstream requires concerted, long-term action and commitment, said Asian Development Bank report. In a project update report on 'Preparing the Sustainable Energy Efficiency Development Programme for Pakistan', the ADB emphasised the need for a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework; energy price and utility rate-setting reforms and incentives; a strong equipment standards, certification, and testing regime; complementary alternative and renewable energy programmes; and easy, widespread access to energy efficiency information, financing, products, and services by all categories and levels of energy market players and end users. According to ADB project study, the energy efficiency assessment conducted under ADB's Energy Efficiency Initiative determined that Pakistan has a large and untapped energy efficiency market. It identifies several energy efficiency improvement opportunities in gas distribution (supply side) and in the government and residential sectors (demand side) that can be tapped into. These opportunities may be explored without extensive precursor preparations, detailed policy design, or framework development, achieving immediate energy savings and deferring additional supply requirements. Further refinement and expansion of such options could result in a portfolio of immediate, bankable energy efficiency investment options for Pakistan, which the government and ADB may consider. According to report, the government and domestic consumers consume more than 60 percent of Pakistan's energy. The public sector is the most inefficient consumer, and the government is looking for more efficient utilisation and conservation measures. The government is eager to procure and adopt energy efficient technology in its operations, including the use of efficient lighting and heating and cooling systems in existing and new buildings, and introduction of energy-efficient building codes. The domestic sector currently uses 45 percent of the power supply. The most effective way to expedite the use of efficient compact fluorescent lamps by domestic consumers is to inject a large volume of such lamps into the market at a low price. This approach has been successful in several countries, where it has immediately reduced customers' monthly power bills. Preliminary analysis suggests that the introduction of 15 million high-quality compact fluorescent lamps into Pakistan's domestic market would save customers $78 million over the lifetime of those bulbs (approximately 2 years). This money could be used more productively in the economy. In addition, 880 MW of power demand would be avoided. The cost of such additional new generation capacity would be $1.15 billion (at $1.3 million per MW), ADB report disclosed. ADB report further pointed out that Pakistan's gas distribution system is ageing and is suffering from high technical losses (25-30 percent in some areas compared to industry standard 5 percent) that could be eliminated by replacing medium and low pressure pipes with more efficient, corrosion-free pipes. Natural gas accounted for half (43 billion cubic meters) of Pakistan's primary energy supply in 2006. A more efficient gas distribution system would result in significant national savings (up to $580 million per year) and increased use of cleaner fuel by more domestic, industrial, and commercial consumers, ADB report mentioned. It said that Electricity consumption, projected to grow an average of 8 percent per annum until 2015 (although recent experience suggests much higher demand growth), will similarly require large power generation capacity additions. Higher energy demand and imports will also require massive investments in associated port terminals, storage facilities, refining capacity, pipeline and transmission networks, and surface fuel transport infrastructure. During 2001-2006, ADB report stated that primary energy supply increased 5.4 percent per year. Meanwhile, consumption of electricity rose at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent, natural gas by 10.4 percent, liquefied petroleum gas by 17.6 percent, and coal by 22.8 percent. Electricity use, in particular, is growing robustly across all sectors-industry, agriculture, domestic, and commercial-recording a 10.2 percent overall jump in 2005-2006, while generation increases lagged at 9.3 percent during the same period. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Ample financial resources have been allocated to increase the forest cover from 5.01-6 percent by 2015, said President Parvez Musharaf in a message on the occasion of National Spring Tree Plantation that would be observed on Friday, February 15. He said that under the Mid-Term Development fund (MTDF) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), huge resources have been allocated. In addition to mega forestry sector projects, an amount of Rs 12 billion has been approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) which will be implemented by all the provincial governments, as well as AJK and the Northern Areas. He further said that our entire rural population depends upon wood and biomass as a primary source of energy. Despite their indirect contribution to other production sectors, economic values of forests are usually underestimated in natural accounts and the GDP. President directed the provincial governments to implement these projects with the involvement of all stakeholders including farmers, local communities, forest owners and right holders, civil organisations, the private sector and students. The president reiterated that Pakistan, as a member of various international and regional forums on forests is committed to undertake forestry development programme with international support. He said that the government will ensure transfer of technologies, training and upgrading of departmental infrastructure to facilitate the provinces in implementing their strategies and programmes of forestry sector. He urged all the citizens to participate in the national efforts to cover barren land of the country with trees. Syed Wajid Hussain Bokhari, Federal Environment Minister, said that President will inaugurate the National Spring Tree Planting campaign on Friday. More than 86.5 million saplings will be planted all over the country during the campaign. He further said that the spring tree plantation campaign target includes planting 22 million saplings in Punjab, 1.2 million in Sindh, 27 million in NWFP, 1.5 million in Balochistan, 16 million in AJK, 4 million in Northern Areas and 4 million saplings by other departments including Capital Development Authority (CDA). Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

ISLAMABAD (February 16 2008): The government is confronting a tough time in attracting private sector's investment in water and power projects as the government has lined more than 40 development projects for Public Private Partnership (PPP). As an informal cut of around 70 billion on 2007-08 PSDP allocation has been placed, the government has speeded up the process of putting the development projects for investment from private sector both in and outside the country, sources told Business Recorder. The investors are not coming forward according to the expectations of the government in hydro-electric and water projects, especially the planned big reservoirs as the government is yet to remove certain reservations about these important projects, the sources said. The planned Basha, Munda and some other projects have been lined for PPP mode of execution. However, there are certain reservations of the private sector's investors on these projects. The government will have to give a resettlement action plan of these projects before taking these projects up with private investors, according to the sources. The sources, however, said that there was overwhelming response from private sector to fully or partially fund projects in other sectors especially the communication, water supply, sanitation, sewerage and solid waste management. Pakistan needs at least 10 percent GDP allocation for development budget, around 20 billion US dollars for one year. This is a huge amount that is actually more than the annual tax collection, which the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made in the past. For the year 2007-08, the tax collection target is little over Rs one trillion and there are indications that FBR would not be able to meet the target, the sources said. In this scenario the PPP mode for taking development agenda forward is must, the sources said. The government has established an independent cell in the planning and development (P&D) division to refer almost every development projects to Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF), an autonomous body to look for investors in launching development projects. The Planning Commission, according to the sources, is required to do a lot to make the projects implementation mechanism neat and clean. This will be a pre-requisite for attracting local and foreign investors in investing in the development schemes. There is a need that the government should do it swiftly in order to maintain the overall growth, Pakistan has achieved in the recent years. A recent World Bank report says that Pakistan is suffering from dearth of infrastructure in water, irrigation, power and transport sector. The report enlists corruption as one of the main reasons that hinders the development drive in Pakistan. Delays in projects' implementation, lack of skilled workforce and implementation of some development schemes on political basis are other factors for unreasonably slowing the development process. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Punjab government has reactivated and empowered Punjab Agriculture Research Board (Parb) in order to corporatise research on major crops by including private stakeholders in its decision making. Planning and development department sources told APP here on Monday that agri research system in the province is being improved to give impetus to the agriculture sector, which is pivotal to the economy and contributes about 54 percent to the gross provincial product.

President Pervez Musharraf has asked the Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Pakistan Steel Mills, as well as the city and Sindh governments to install desalination and power generation plants all over the metropolis. He was speaking as chief guest at the formal inauguration of the DHA water desalination and power generation plant and ground breaking ceremony of Phase-II of the project here on Monday. He had performed the groundbreaking of this very project three-and-a-half years ago. The President termed the inauguration of such a project as a very important occasion.