‘Agri, livestock can earn $25bln annually’

KARACHI: All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) said on Thursday that agriculture and livestock exports could earn $25 billion annually if modern mechanism was adopted. The association welcomed announcement of Emergency Agriculture Program by the Federal Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

According to Patron-in-Chief of the Association, Waheed Ahmed the timely initiative would play a pivotal role in the sustenance of the economy on durable foundations. He said the federal government has also allocated a fund of Rs309 billion which would be spent on development of agriculture, livestock, horticulture, and fisheries.

Serious challenges such as climatic change, water scarcity, and high cost of production were resulting in low yield per acre besides financial losses to the growers, Ahmed said. “To attain high yield per acre on farm level, we need to simultaneously grow conventional and value-added crops, which is not possible without comprehensive and ambitious research and development,” he added.