Pakistan should not miss a moment of learning from China in agriculture sector: Food Minister

Islamabad: Pakistani Federal Minister of National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam has said that Pakistan should not miss a moment of learning from China in the agriculture sector as China leads the world in the agri-technology.

Chairing the 20th meeting of National Coordination Committee of the Agriculture Transformation Plan (ATP) here, the minister stressed that the collaboration with Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences could be a game changer for Pakistan. The meeting was conducted with the provincial counterparts to monitor the ongoing progress of ATP.

Imam emphasized that Pakistan needed to exchange expertise on mechanization, new variety development and germplasm with China. The minister mentioned that that China leads the world in agriculture mechanization and Pakistan can catapult its agriculture sector through learning from their knowledge and experience.

Imam maintained that Agriculture Transformation Plan will revitalize the farmer of the country. He said that the current government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan had put special emphasize on the upgradation of the Agriculture Sector.

Imam assured all the participants that necessary steps will be immediately taken to provide any support needed by the provinces.

Fakhar Imam said that the purpose of the meeting was to ensure progress is monitored in order to ensure that the Agriculture Transformation Plan is on track.

He informed that the current government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan had put special emphasize on the upgradation of the Agriculture Sector.

He remarked that almost 19 % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was directly contributed by the Agriculture Sector and that through value addition it can become the back bone of the country.

Fakhar Imam was briefed that out of Pakistani Rs 5 billion, total Rs 4 billion has been disbursed to the Zari TYarraqyati Bank Limited (ZTBL) while, Rs 1 billion are still pending.

The minister was also briefed about the on-going efforts of the provinces to ensure availability and price of all inputs for crops.

Imam noted that these measures needed to be further strengthened in order to protect the small farmer. Fakhar Imam told the participants that necessary steps will be immediately taken to provide any support needed by the provinces. Imam praised the efforts of Punjab in ensuring that the farmers sow wheat seeds timely.

The meeting was convened by Abid Suleri and was attended by the chairman Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Dr Ghulam M. Ali and the representative of the agriculture departments of all provinces.