Speakers at a seminar here on Tuesday stressed the need for adopting innovative methodologies to increase crop productivity and meet emerging food challenges.
The “Roundtable Discussion on Agriculture and Water in Pakistan” was jointly organised by the Planning Commission, the World Bank and USAID with an aim to highlight the challenges being faced by the agriculture sector and share international best practices for addressing these issues.
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeemul Haq said that the agriculture sector was specially focusing on a new growth strategy for achieving sustainable economic development.
He said that increasing urbanisation was another emerging challenge for the agriculture sector and economic development of the country, adding that standards of living should be improved by providing better education, healthcare and job opportunities to the rural people.
Haq said that to promote the agriculture sector, government’s role must be minimised in procurement and storage by encouraging the private sector to perform the job. He asked for concentration on seed research and said that special incentives would be provided to the scientists working on seed research.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud said that his organisation would continue its assistance to the federal and provincial governments in their efforts to achieve food security.
FAO, in collaboration with the World Bank, has played a pivotal role in strengthening the agriculture sector after last year’s floods and provided inputs and training for livestock and poultry farmers, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2011.
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