US envoy calls for revamping agriculture

Says it is the key to alleviating poverty in Pakistan

FAISALABAD: US Consulate’s consul general Zachray Harkenrider has stated that USAID is making all out efforts to alleviate rural poverty by helping Pakistan reinvigorate its agriculture on modern scientific lines.

The Lahore based consul general was talking to a delegation of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) that met him under the leadership of its President Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz.

Harkenrider said that sustained agriculture growth is imperative for a country like Pakistan to resolve its diverse socio-economic problems.  He said that the USAID programme has provided energy efficient pumps at subsidised rates to the farmers.



The US Consul General further stated that the USAID is organising conferences on the importance of solar energy and possibilities to launch joint-ventures in agriculture sector. “These conferences will also help Pakistan stabilise its economy on a sustained basis,” he added.

FCCI President Muhammad Nawaz expressed satisfaction over the bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries and said that there was a need to explore new avenues of cooperation to give quantum jump to mutual trades.

FCCI Senior Vice President Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain termed rural poverty as the number one problem in Pakistan.

He said that earlier USAID’s energy efficient pump helped Pakistan save 400 megawatts of electricity.



On “Power pilferage in Faisalabad is mainly attributed to agriculture tube wells, which could also be checked by providing solar tube wells at reduced market rates.”

Hussain also underlined US role in enhancing the country’s agriculture production. However, he stated that production has become stagnate and we need high yielding and disease resistant crops to increase our farm production.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.

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