Daily Times

Provincial Minister for Agriculture Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi said on Sunday that Punjab could serve as ‘world food basket’ provided required investment was injected in different sections of the agriculture sector.

He was addressing the Pakistan Economic Conference (PEC) on “agriculture: value addition, technology, export opportunity and its potential in Pakistan”.

He said the conference would have salutary impact on national economy as the business community of Faisalabad was now planning to switch over from textile to other segments like agriculture and IT, etc.

He said that diversification was imperative to survive in the fast changing global environment. He said that population was only 30 million when Pakistan was created in 1947 and now it had crossed 220 million. “It is encouraging that agriculture sector is catering to food requirements of the population with at least seven times increase in per acre yield”, he said and added that technological interventions could not be introduced due to lack of finances which was the main cause of its low productivity.

He said that green revolution of 60s was ushered in as our research was directly linked with the international organizations. “This link was disrupted and the attention of our economists was diverted from agriculture to the urbanization”, he added.

He said that still this sector was getting loans at 13 percent, whereas, textile and other sections were enjoying speedy availability of finances at only 7 percent. He said the role of agriculture was around 19-20 percent and hence it must get subsidized loans proportionate to its share in GDP.

He lamented that delivery of available irrigation water at farm level was 50 percent which meant that almost half of the water was wasted at different levels. “We could not get the required results unless and until investment is diverted to this segment”, he added.

He appreciated the cooperation of Prime Minister Imran Khan who had directed to eliminate GST on the import of agriculture inputs. He said the sector was subsidized throughout the world and if this facility was not provided in Pakistan, our agriculture could not compete with its global competitors.

He purposed introduction of service providing companies in agriculture sector who could import costly machinery and rent it out to the tillers for mechanized farming. The Punjab government had encouraged this concept by reducing taxes on it, he added.

He also briefly touched on soil health and said that it was a major handicap in enhancing per acre yield and we must focus on it to increase agriculture production.

This session was also addressed by Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Dr Aman Ullah Malik Dean Faculty of Agriculture UAF, Munir Shaheen Founder & Chairman Kashtkar Foundation Pakistan, Rehan Qadeer Founder and Chief Executive Officer of O’Mushrooms, Asif Shareef Founder of PQNK method in Pakistani Agriculture, Dr. Ehsan-ul-Haq Sayam PhD Scholar and Dr. Kainat Gohar Homeopath, Entrepreneur, Aesthetician & Designer.