Daily Times

Strict ban should be clamped on the construction of commercial, industrial or residential units on cultivable agricultural land to avert increasing threats of food security, said Chaudhary Talat Mahmood, Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).

Addressing the second meeting of the FCCI Standing Committee on CPEC, he expressed grave concern over the unprecedented increase in the import bill of food items. He said that the Government must take immediate remedial measures to check this negative trend through policy intervention, providing maximum incentives and encouraging technology transfer at the farm level. He appreciated the mega project of olive cultivation in Pakistan and said that it will not only cut down our import bill of edible oil but also have a positive salutary impact on the overall environment.

Engineer Ahmed Hassan, patron-in-chief of the standing committee, stressed the need to introduce latest agriculture technologies to enhance per acre yield. He said that it will help to overcome the issue of rural poverty in addition to achieving food autarky. He also demanded a massive awareness campaign to motivate rural farmers to shun century old conventional practices and use drip irrigation in addition to promoting the concept of tunnel farming. He mentioned multiple problems faced by the agriculture sector including contracting land resources, increasing role of middlemen, supply chain problems, non availability of skilled manpower and unprecedented increase in agriculture inputs. Engineer Ahmed Hassan also mentioned hydroponic technology and said that it could immediately meet the demand of vegetables and foods particularly around the urban areas. He said that a scheduled meeting of Pakistan-China joint commission could not be held due to corona lockdown, however in its next meeting Pakistan must ensure early transfer of Chinese technology in addition to the production of high yielding and disease resistant variety of different crops. He said that next meeting of SC will exclusively discuss the energy related problems

Mr. Tahir Yaqoob Chairman Standing Committee also stressed the need to utilize latest agriculture technologies so that per acre production could be enhanced considerably. He also appreciated the cultivation of olive in Pakistan and said that many progressive parties have launched joint ventures for the extraction and marketing of olive oil. The meeting was also attended by Muhammad Amjad Khawaja, Mr. Muzammil Sultan and others.