Growing problem: Experts highlight food security issues

Legal restrictions demanded to prevent use of agricultural land for residential settlements

HYDERABAD: Food, agriculture and veterinary sciences experts have called for introducing legal restrictions to stop human settlements over cultivable agricultural land, citing increased demand for food production due to rising population.

This demand is part of the recommendations made in the concluding session on Wednesday of two-day International Conference on Agriculture, Food and Animal Sciences, which was organised by Sindh Agriculture University (SAU).

Around 300 delegates including scholars and researchers from the top universities in Pakistan, China, Germany, USA, Malaysia and other countries participated in the conference.

The event recommended legislating laws which prevent use of agriculture land for human settlements. The experts also emphasised on maintaining fecundity of the land by strictly abiding by the practice of crop rotation, adding that the micro and macro finances should be made conditional to the said rotation.

The food experts expressed concern over the substandard processing of food products and pointed out the health hazards of such products. They asked the government to implement laws to prevent the processing and sale of such food.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2017.