Daily Times

Minister for National Food Security and Research, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, on Wednesday said that draft regulations of bio-pesticides policy had been finalized and would be submitted before the federal cabinet for approval to promote the use of bio-pesticides in the country.

Addressing a high-level “dialogue on regulatory harmonization in Pakistan for MRLs and bio-pesticides,” the minister said that using bio-pesticides would help mitigate the issues related to aflatoxin and make the local agriculture commodities more resilient to capture the international market.

The event was organized by the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with USAID, USDA, and CABI to share the outcome of cooperation to mitigate the adverse impact of aflatoxin in local agriculture products, besides measures taken to mitigate its adverse effects on exports of rice, maize, wheat, and fruits.

The minister said that due to the presence of micro-toxin elements, the exports from the country remained under regulatory pressure and expressed the hope that promoting bio-pesticides would help overcome such challenges besides reducing reliance on costly fertilizers, which consume expensive inputs like electricity and gas.

Kausar Abdullah Malik said that organic agriculture products were in high demand worldwide, and adopting this technology would help enhance the output of organic agriculture products, besides overcoming the threats related to climate change.

The minister appreciated the efforts of USAID and other development partners and agencies to improve the agriculture sector. The joint efforts of organizations like USID, USDA, PARC, and CABI will play a key role in developing a modern agriculture model in the country. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tariq Khan, Director of the Department of Plant Protection, informed that the bio-pesticide regulation process was initiated in 20120, adding that a bio-pesticide policy had been finalized and would be approved.

He informed me that the work for the capacity building for the regulatory oversight was also in process, and special arrangements were made to develop basic infrastructure for the registration of bio-pesticides to bring it into agriculture practice.

Besides, the department was also working with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Ministry of Commerce, and other organizations to address the issues of aflatoxin to address the bottlenecks hampering local export consignments. Addressing the event, Program Manager USDA Jessica Mudjitaba-Fernandez assured full support for the promotion and development of the agriculture sector in Pakistan. She said that the US Department of Agriculture was collaborating with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to promote organic agriculture and enhance the output of agriculture products.

Meanwhile, Project Director CABI Dr Sabyan Faris said that his organization had conducted studies on aflatoxin and bio-pest control in collaboration with USAID and USDA under national and international experts’ supervision and started a public-private partnership in 2018.

Besides, over 45 training sessions were also conducted, benefiting around 1,539 farmers, indicating that efforts were still being made to mitigate the impact of chemical pesticides and promote and develop bio-pesticides to enhance local output. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman PARC Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali lauded the stakeholders’ efforts to mitigate the negative impact of aflatoxin that would help promote the exports of agricultural commodities. He said that bio-pesticides and seed policy would address the issues and challenges related to the agriculture sector and enhance the output of local crops like wheat, maize, and rice.