Dairy exports to China approved

Secretary says govt is investing Rs100b in agriculture to modernise sector

LAHORE:

Pakistan is going to start exporting dairy products to China through a state-of-the-art farm developed in Sheikhupura to meet the export requirements of China, revealed Masaud Anwar, Secretary Livestock of the Government of Punjab, at ‘Pakistan Agricultural Coalition’s Agri-Connections 2024’ at Expo Center on Wednesday.

At the event, Anwar said, “a team of China Customs has recently visited our FAM Farm in Sheikhupura and unofficially approved Pakistan for exports of dairy products to China.”

Speaking to an audience full of corporate and financial sector players, Secretary Agriculture of Government of Punjab, Iftikhar Sahoo underscored the importance of the private sector, calling it the future of agriculture. “The new government has a vision for transforming our agriculture sector. So, the investment of Rs100 billion has been planned in the agriculture sector for the next two years,” he said.

Additionally, Sahoo disclosed that Rs80 billion will be spent on the modernisation of watercourses in the entire province in the next three years. It was also revealed that the government is in talks with institutes for modern equipment and partnership with academia for research, in order to fund research by the private sector and provide paid internships to graduates from agricultural universities.

Sahoo highlighted that despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan food-related imports are worth $5 billion every year. Notably, the nation faces serious challenges like crop productivity stagnation, decreased crop area, and a loss of agricultural land.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2024.

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