PARC about to roll out 200 food brands

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) is about to introduce around 200 value-added food brands to reduce reliance on edible merchandise imports that cause $1.5 to $2 billion of foreign exchange flight a year, a senior official said.

PARC Director General Azeem Khan said the national brands of food products would promote value-addition of agriculture products in local markets, reduce reliance on imported food stuffs, and ensure provision of cost-effective consumables to common people in the country.

“The initiative is also aiming at to reduce poverty in the rural areas of the country by enhancing farm income with value-addition of agriculture products being produced in these areas, and create maximum livelihood opportunities to overcome rapidly urbanisation issues,” Khan said in an interview with APP.

Khan said PARC, in collaboration with the private sector, embarked upon a plan for transforming conventional agriculture into value-added agriculture to reduce import of food items that consume about $1.5 to $2 billion of the country’s foreign exchange reserves annually and is a major cause of widening trade deficit.

“The other objective of the initiative is to encourage a large bulge of educated and semi-skilled youth in agri sector by providing them basic training and facilities for value-addition of agriculture products to start their own business for a respectable livelihood,” he said.

PARC official said the council has finalised all the modalities of branding and labeling for the new products. An ISO- (International Organization for Standardization) certified laboratory is being establishing at the National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) that would help in producing food items of international standards and attracting the consumers.

Khan further said the PARC has already introduced 30 brands of local food products, including olive oil, honey, rice, wheat flour, tea, spices and yogurt that are nutritious, hygienic and cost-effective.

The fish and yogurt processing plant has been established in NARC, which is imparting training to people to establish their own business and install plants to produce foods and sell them in local markets.

PARC official said the council established its four new research stations in different territories in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promote agriculture and livestock sectors in rural areas. “They will start functioning by the end of this year.”

Khan said the government is focusing on increased productivity of major crops and would spend Rs395 billion on 13 different agriculture sector development projects, in collaboration with provincial governments.

Khan said around 100,000 hectares of land would be brought under olive cultivation by 2023. Four million hectares of land have already been identified for olive cultivation. “About one million olive plants would be provided for a million tree project,” he added. “Canola has been cultivated over thousands of hectares to reduce import bill of edible oil.”