CPEC opens agri sector to foreign investors

KARACHI: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has opened agriculture sector to Chinese businessmen and other foreign investors with promising higher returns on investment, an industry official said on Wednesday. 

“Agricultural trade has gained importance in the recent times, offering new opportunities and challenges,” Zubair Tufail, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said in a statement from Geneva. 

Tufail, addressing a session titled “Agricultural Trade in New Era”, said Pakistan is doing a lot to improve agriculture sector. He said the expansion of agricultural trade on a global level helped in providing greater quantity, wider variety and better quality food to increasing numbers of people at lower prices. “It is generating income for billions of people globally who are directly or indirectly linked to it while Pakistan’s 60 percent exports are linked to this sector,” he added.

FPCCI president said government should continue to provide farmers with cheap loans and subsidies to buy fertiliser, pesticide and other agriculture inputs. “Agriculture is set to become an important source of foreign exchange for Pakistan, which is necessary to finance imports and development and it will ensure domestic food security.”

Tufail further said hunger can be eliminated from the world if agricultural policies of some major agriculture producing countries are not influenced by local or national considerations.

“Many countries believe that agriculture should not be exposed to international competition due to its vulnerability and political, social and economic consequences which result in protectionism,” he said. “World moving slowly towards agritrade liberalisation for which domestic support must be reduced by all the countries in a systematic manner.”