National Bank of Pakistan and United Insurance Company (UIC) has entered a deal to support the agriculture sector of the country to protect farmers from casualty.
According to the agreement, the United Insurance Company will provide insurance cover to agriculture and livestock farmers so that they can be saved from losses.
Chairman of the United International Group Mian Shahid said that we initiated crop and livestock insurance in the country which resulted in record growth. We consider serving farming communities and saving them from shocks as a social work which has helped our company a lot.
Mian Shahid said that agriculture sector is lying on your front to price and climate shocks for which an insurance cover is imperative. The share of agriculture has reduced to just 18 percent from 21 per cent.
Still, Mian Shahid said, this sector is providing jobs to 42 per cent of the labor while 75 per cent of exports are linked to this sector. The business leader informed that country’s 64 per cent population lives in rural areas which are tied to the agriculture sector which include four million livestock farmers.
Pakistan produces 38 per cent of wheat per acre as compare to France, 29 percent rice as compared to US yield and almost half cotton as compared to China.
Stabilized prices of seed, fertilizer, insecticides, and provision of cheap energy can help boost the agriculture sector.Pakistan is rich in its major livestock wealth as is obvious from its population growth. Agriculture and Livestock is the major economic activity of small and landless farmer for their survival.
Auspiciously, various advanced technologies in these areas are already well established. But the need of the time is to effectively apply them at grass root level.