Agriculture Productivity: ICCI urges food security for masses

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called on the government to prioritise agriculture productivity in order to ensure food security as food crisis is emerging as a major issue in the country. In a statement on Saturday, ICCI President Muzzamil Hussain Sabri said that according to a national nutrition survey, 60% of Pakistan’s population was facing food insecurity which should be a major cause for concern for policymakers. He said that more than 70% of the population was directly or indirectly depending on agriculture, but its decreasing productivity was pushing the country towards a food crisis. They said per acre agriculture productivity in Pakistan was around 2.6 tons per hectare as compared to India’s 2.8 ton and China’s 4.7 ton per hectare. Similarly, rice yield in Pakistan was 3.1 ton per hectare compared to 3.3 ton in India and 4.2 ton in Bangladesh.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2015.

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