Pakistan 8th largest food consumer

Experts call for adopting international standards to avoid crop wastage.

FAISALABAD: Pakistan is world’s eighth largest consumer of food with a population of 180 million and food is the second biggest industry of the country, providing 16 per cent employment in production.

Speakers disclosed this at a seminar on food engineering organised by the Department of Farms Machinery and Power, University of Agriculture Faisalabad here on Thursday.

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Dean Dr Rai Niaz, Department Chairman Dr Muhammad Iqbal, Dr Manzoor Ahmad and UK engineer Habib Ahmad Zafar spoke at the seminar. They said although Pakistan was the fifth largest milk producer with a yearly output of 45 billion litres but it was a matter of concern that only five per cent of milk was being processed.

They underlined the need for adopting international standards in order to excel in the industry across the globe.

In the absence of modern farming practices, the country loses 40 to 50 per cent of agricultural production in post-harvest handling.

The experts said though the county was blessed with all seasons, lack of skilled manpower and traditional ways of farming were denying it of its due share.

In order to produce quality manpower, the agricultural university has kicked off a food engineering programme, the first in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2012.