ISLAMABAD: Agricultural machinery and inputs worth $73.498 million were imported during 10 months of the current financial year as compared to the imports of $79.728 million of the corresponding period of last year.
During the period from July-April, 2020-21 import of agricultural machinery and imports decreased by 7.28 percent as compared to the imports of the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, during the period under review agricultural chemicals including fertilizers, pesticides, plastics materials and medicinal products worth $7.256 billion imported in order to fulfil the domestic requirements as compared to the imports of the same period last year.
The import of the above-mentioned commodities into the country were stood at $6.196 billion during the first ten months of the last financial year, according to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
During the last 10 months of the current financial year imports of agricultural chemicals into the country recorded about 17.10 percent growth as compared to the imports of the same period of last year.
About 1,298,820 metric tons of fertilizers manufactured valuing $457.938 million were also imported during the period under review as compared to the imports of 1,519,626 metric tons valuing $513.959 million of the same period of last year.
In order to enhance the output of the agriculture sector during the current season, an amount of $152.310 million was spent on the import of 32,561 metric tons of insecticides as against the import of insecticides valuing $130.679 during the same period of last year.
During the last 10 months of the current financial year, the country spent $990.669 million on the imports of medicinal products as it imported 29,350 metric tons of medicinal products as compared to the imports of the same period last year.
In the first 10 months of the last financial year, imports of medicinal products into the country was recorded at 17,632 metric tons valuing $831.022 million, which was up by 9.74 percent.
It is worth mentioning here that the output of local agriculture crops including wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane witnessed tremendous growth and contributed to the economic development of the country.
The government had attached special attention to agriculture sector development and embarked upon a holistic approach to increase the output of all major cash crop by incentivizing the farming community across the country and launch mega development projects in collaboration with provincial governments for the development of agriculture and livestock sectors.
The government was also intended to facilitate agriculture sector in its federal budget 2021-22 for further strengthening the agriculture and livestock sectors to achieve sustainable economic growth and improve rural economy.
