Govt focusing on agriculture diversity

ISLAMABAD: The government is focusing on high value horticultural crops, oilseeds and pulses to diversify the agriculture sector that has several shortcomings, food minister said on Wednesday.

“Despite having one of the world-best alluvial soils and the best irrigation system we could not fully harness the potential of our agricultural sector. Main issues of our agriculture sector include lack of quality seed, cold storage facilities, farm mechanization, trained manpower, post-harvest management, processing industries, and digital agriculture platforms etc.,” Fakhar Imam, minister of food security and research said during an international conference in virtual format.

Islamic Organization for Food Security in collaboration with various international research organisations hosted the conference on “Best practices for building sustainable food systems in OIC region”.

Imam said Pakistan is blessed with a rich natural resource base for agriculture. “We are among the top ten procedures of wheat, rice, sugarcane and certain fruits,” he said. “We are working to diversify this sector, by enhancing focus on high value horticultural crops, oilseeds and pulses. Our government is also taking keen interest in livestock breed improvement, water conservation and promoting farm mechanization. We are supporting farmers by furnishing quality seed of improved varieties, providing farm machinery at subsidized rates, and disseminating improved production packages.

Despite COVID pandemic and locust attack, the production of wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane has increased to a record level. This year has been remarkable for the agriculture sector of Pakistan, and our economy got a boost with the record agricultural production, indicating a lesser reliance on food imports in 2021/22. “Exports of agro-commodities have also increased significantly. Considering the role of provinces, our government is also engaging diversified stakeholders as the best tactic for building a sustainable food system in Pakistan.

These strategic initiatives will help to improve the public health situation, which is reflecting high rates of stunting,” he said.

The government has prioritised the agriculture sector. Last year, it approved a multi-billion rupees worth of agriculture relief package to provide subsidies to farmers on fertilizers and pesticides, reduction in bank mark-up on agriculture loans, and sales tax subsidy on locally manufactured tractors. The package included subsidy on buying of fertilisers, reduction in the mark-up of agriculture loans to farmers, subsidy on sales tax on the locally-manufactured tractors for a period of one year.