Training for rural youth stressed

Step to improve productivity, says food security minister.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan on Friday said that the government would start skill-training programmes for rural youth to bring them into the agriculture mainstream.

The programmes would be initiated to impart them experience with modern tools of cultivation to enhance agriculture productivity for economic improvement of the rural masses.

Addressing the ‘Pakistan Agriculture Conference and Exhibition’ organised by KMK Global Limited in collaboration with Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and USAID, the minister said the agriculture sector was facing different challenges.

He said the government was focusing to minimise the input cost of agriculture input in the country as well as developing adequate infrastructure to promote market access for growers.

The government, he said, was also committed to create a conducive environment for the promotion of the sector by concentrating on crop enhancement, livestock, fisheries and dairy sectors development by creating linkages with the industrial sector, he added.

Bosan said the linkage between agriculture and industry was also vital for the value addition of agricultural and dairy products for profit maximisation and poverty alleviation.

He said that the agro-based industry would be setup to safeguard small-scale growers who were facing different challenges including market access.

He further said that linkages between agriculture and industry were also vital for value addition and food processing to tackle the growing food demands of the country. Speaking on the occasion, PARC Chairman Dr Iftikhar Ahmad said that due to surplus production in different major crops, farmers are facing challenges like unaccounted returns.

He urged the need of a strong policy intervention to safeguard farmer’s interest by enhancing profitability. He informed that the sector was contributing about 65% in national exports besides providing job opportunities for over 43% of the country’s workforce. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th,  2015.

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