Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Mr. Shaukat Tarin, presided over the meeting of Sub-Committee of Economic Advisory Council (EAC) on Agriculture held at the Finance Division today. SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr. Waqar Masood, SAPM on Food Security Jamshaid Cheema as well as private members Mr. Amer Aziz, Mr. Mansoor Arfeen, Mr. Aftab Anwar, Mr. Saadat Ejaz and Mr. Arif Nadeem also participated in the meeting. The Sub-Committee on Agriculture reviewed the entire food supply chain from farmer to end-consumer for minimizing the price differential between wholesale and retail prices of basic commodities. The key focus is to work out a regulatory mechanism to ensure that the farmer gets a fair share and undue profiteering is curtailed effectively. In his remarks, the Finance Minister stated that Agriculture plays a central role in our economy and the Government is focused on transforming this sector. There is a need to re-visit the farm-to-end-consumer chain by removing bottlenecks in farm labour, processing, transport and logistics. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation particularly challenging due to disruptions on supply side, he added. The Finance Minister directed the members of the Sub-Committee to work out and present holistic proposals during the next meeting. He encouraged the members to come up with innovative ideas to ensure price stability in key commodities of daily use.
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