questions<\/a>, as Mr Sharif holds no official position in either the provincial or federal government and is officially only a member of the National Assembly.<\/p>\nAddressing the meeting on Monday, the PML-N supreme leader said the lack of availability of quality seeds even after decades is \u201ca matter of grave concern\u201d.<\/p>\n
He called for \u201ceffective steps\u201d to save 37 million acres feet (MAF) of water from being wasted during agricultural activities in the province.<\/p>\n
He emphasised the need to use modern irrigation methods to save water. The meeting was told that 1.7 MAF of water could be saved by paving 7,300 water courses across Punjab.<\/p>\n
The meeting also discussed necessary measures to increase the rate of farm mechanisation from 35 to 60 per cent in Punjab.<\/p>\n
It also discussed the disbursement of Rs150bn loan to farmers for Rabi and Kharif crops. Mr Sharif issued directions to formulate simple eligibility criteria for the farmers to secure loans.<\/p>\n
CM Maryam also approved a research endowment fund worth Rs500m in the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute in Faisalabad. The meeting also decided to amend the Fertiliser and Pesticide Act.<\/p>\n
Provincial ministers Marri\u00adyum Aurangzeb, Azma Zahid Bukhari and Ashiq Hussain Kirmani; PML-N leader Pervaiz Rashid and other officials attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
Separately on Monday, CM Maryam chaired a joint meeting of the parliamentary parties of PML-N, PPP and PML-Q to discuss the strategy for Senate elections.<\/p>\n
PPP parliamentary party leader Ali Haider Gilani assured the CM of his party\u2019s support for PML-N candidates Bushra Butt and Anusha Rahman, who are contesting on women\u2019s seats.<\/p>\n
Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAHORE: PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif continues to chair administrative meetings alongside his daughter, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, despite criticism. On Monday, Mr Sharif co-chaired a meeting to review issues faced by the province\u2019s agriculture sector. Since the Feb 8 general elections, the PML-N sup\u00adreme leader has generally kept a low profile. How\u00adever, in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/04\/020826063e71e94.png?r=082627","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t