STAFF REPORT LHR: The Punjab Agriculture Department, which advertises important messages for farmers’ to increase produce, yields very poor output itself. Even the target of earning from farms owned and controlled by the department, which have best expertise, knowledge and technical advancement, is not commensurate with the earnings of an average traditional farmer.

The income statement of the extension wing of the Punjab agriculture department revealed that the target of income from agriculture farms in different districts for the year 2011-12 was fixed at Rs 5 million but even that meager target could not be achieved and the income remained jammed at Rs 4.1 million.

The case of income from experimental farms had a similar fate under the agriculture department from which an earning of Rs 33 million was achieved during the last fiscal year.

Per acre returns from both categories of farms remained less than Rs 10,000 per acre per annum, even if all excuses and reasons from the agriculture department are to be considered.

A well-placed official from the department, seeking anonymity, said that the department lacked funding to use input for crops on government farms.

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