CPEC a golden chance to enhance exports, generate revenue: minister

LAHORE

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan has said the government is focusing on adoption of modern practices and technology in agricultural sector to boost economy. 

He was addressing national agribusiness conference on ‘Green Punjab and CPEC’ organised by Punjab University Institute of Agricultural Sciences at a local hotel on Wednesday. 

Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zaffar Mueen Nasir, Dean Faculty of Life Sciences Prof Dr Naeem Khan, Director Institute of Agricultural Sciences Prof Dr Saleem Haider, President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdul Basit, Chairman Pakistan Crops Protection Association Saad Akbar Khan, Additional Secretary Agriculture Punjab Dr Ghazanfar Ali, representatives of various firms dealing in agri-business, faculty members and a large number of students were present. 

Addressing the ceremony, Bosan said agriculture was central to robust economic growth, development and alleviation of rural poverty. He said CPEC was a golden opportunity to enhance agricultural exports and generate revenue. He said: “As per a rough estimate, we had around 8 lakh agribusiness firms working in different sectors of our country and there was a dire need to strengthen them. Agribusiness firms needed to explore other ways to maximise profit like exploitation of niche markets, product innovation, market segmentation, targeting specific customers, and product differentiation. Our inability to realise full potential was rooted in a number of contributing factors, including: slow adoption of technology and modern practices, inefficient management, infrastructural and supply-chain bottlenecks, financing, economic and policy lapses.” He said free flow of information, related product attributes, increasing sources of raw materials, competitors and customer characteristics are enigma of a developed agribusiness sector. As a result, an information intensive food production system has emerged at global level, he added.

“The global trends in agribusiness have also changed as the traditional practices in agriculture seem obsolete today. Now global market is more concerned with delivering customer value and diversification rather than increasing quantity of production only. Today’s consumer is also more conscious of a number of product attributes before making a decision about the product like low nutritive value, good taste, convenient packaging, easy availability and “Green” products,” the minister said, adding the Ministry of National Food Security and Research continued to help boost sustainable agricultural development in collaboration with all stakeholders and heavy budget had been allocated for the livelihood, uplift and betterment of the country’s farmers. 

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zaffar Mueen Nasir said Pakistan had excellent export potential in agri-business. He said: “Labour cost was still low in Pakistan however we have to be competitive in international market and provide quality products at reasonable rates. Punjab University was developing strong linkages with industry and an incubation centre had also been established at Institute of Agricultural Sciences.”  LCCI president Abdul Basit said: “Pakistan could become food basket for the world if we paid proper attention to agri-sector as 80 percent of our industry was connected with agricultural. We must remove deficiencies and make wise policies to uplift agri-businesses. The volume of global Halal food business was around 300 billion dollars and we had a very low share in that. We must take steps to get at least 10 percent share globally in Halal food business.”

Saad Akbar Khan urged the need to build dams for resolving water problems for agriculture. He appreciated the federal minister for supporting farmers and taking steps for betterment of farmers’ community.

Additional Secretary Dr Ghazanfar Ali said the Punjab government announced Rs 50 billion Kissan package to help farmers. He said the Punjab government was introducing modern techniques in agriculture sector.

Director IAGS Prof Dr Saleem Haider said the institute had established relations with various industries for the development of agricultural sector. He said IAGS was playing its role in providing modern research and talented human resource in various sections of agri-business. 

The conference had been organised to highlight effects of CPEC on our agricultural industry and how we could benefit from this golden opportunity to enhance our agricultural products.