Daily Times

KARACHI: A stable economy would ensure improvement in food security in the country as the country was facing chronic food insecurity due to insufficient agriculture production, political instability and corruption, said the executive representatives of industrial sector.

The representatives of industrial sector said that a concerted improvement and changes in governance had to be carried out to truly realise the country’s growth potential.

Without substantial improvements in governance and a reduction in corruption, economic growth was hard to anticipate and hunger and malnutrition would continue to prevail on the account of maldistribution of national resources and a lack of purchasing power of the poor, they said. The representatives in the discussions included: representatives of industrial and trade associations along with Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA), Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), All Pakistan Business Forum, Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association, Surgical Instruments Manufacturing Association Pakistan (SIMAP), All Pakistan Marble Mining Processing Industry and Exporters Association (APMMPIEA), Sindh Agriculture Forum and other trade organisations.

There is a dire need to improve governance and eliminate corruption with a view to improve country’s level of food security, besides achieving stable economic growth, they said. Investment in agricultural infrastructure and research and development was need of the hour and should be carried out on a war footing. These steps would improve productivity in agriculture and equip it to better cope with natural disasters, said the industry representatives.

Efforts were needed to reduce and avoid environmental pollution and use resources in sustainable manner. In the foreseeable future, Pakistan was most likely to continue to be subject to socio-political, economic, and environmental volatility, they said.

Executives of prime export sectors, Agha Saiddain, Ghulam Rabbani, Ibrahim Qureshi, Shakeel Ahmad, Sanaullah Khan and Qamar Qureshi, were of the view that environmental pollution and degradation presented additional challenges for Pakistan to improve its future food security. Major environment issues include water pollution from raw sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural runoff, rising deforestation, soil erosion, and desertification, they said.

There had been a shortfall of investment in agriculture infrastructure and research and development, leading to limited innovation in the agricultural sector. Antiquated farming methods and the inefficient use of resources had contributed to the poor productivity, the industry leaders said. The slow improvement in agricultural productivity was detrimental to the rural population, especially the rural poor. The lack of development in agricultural infrastructure and advancement in farming methods had made agriculture production difficult and inefficient, the industrial representatives said.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) observed that the lack of purchasing power and access rights to an adequate food supply by many of its poor people was the key reason for the country’s low level of food security, it was reported.

Published in Daily Times, October 8^th 2017.