Pakistan could multiply, several times, exports of fruits and vegetables by introducing structural changes in agricultural sector, according to stakeholders here. Since the government is slow in moving towards improvements in this sector, they have called upon the chambers of commerce to create a workable strategy unanimously for agri sector and submit their recommendations to the "Cabinet Committee on Agriculture and the respective political parties".
Country needed a sustainable agricultural policy to improve the balance of trade and put the economy back on the track, they said. Talking to Business Recorder, Chief Executive Officer, Harvest Tradings, Ahmad Jawad said it was unfortunate that till date "we have failed to computerise our land revenue information system. Since the issue is not receiving proper attention, leading chambers may have to come forward for its implementation."
Farming community, he said was keeping its fingers crossed in the hope that the election year would bring relief for the neglected tillers of the soil. Prices of fertiliser, pesticide, diesel and labour cost have increased manifold but the prices paid to the farmers have not increased proportionately.
Australia is an outstanding example, which by maximising the flow of benefits from investments in irrigation projects, exports 80 percent of its mangoes production while Pakistan exported only 2.5 percent. Currently China produces double the cotton and wheat per hectare as compared to Pakistan. Egypt produces around three times more rice and sugarcane per hectare as compared to Pakistan.
Member of Jamaat-i-Islami, Salman Jajja said farmers were facing difficulties due to government policies, as surplus agriculture produce had become a problem for them due to inadequate storage facilities. He underlined the need to focus on seed development, which was not costly after the WTO regime.
"Concerned authorities should pay attention and do something because if we lose this major contributor to our economy, we will see escalation in prices of raw material and vegetables and other items," he said. Jawad urged it was high time that "we should focus on our real asset and recognise this sector as industry, as it is one of the major sectors which always contributed in bad times."
Comments
Comments are closed.