Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Ghaus Bux Mehar has said that agriculture sector contributes one-fourth to the country's GDP, it represents 70 percent of exports earning and provides 65 percent of raw material that manufacturing sector use.
Speaking at the closing session of the 2nd National Conference on Agriculture and Animal Sciences on Friday, he said Pakistan's economy rests on the sustainable development of the agriculture sector as an engine for growth and poverty reduction.
He said that the conference organised by the Tandojam Agriculture University has provided unique opportunity to take part in scientific dialogue and benefit from others experiences and findings.
"Globalisation and new means of communications available at low cost has promoted closer bilateral, multilateral, inter-regional and international dialogue." The minister said these developments have had bearing on all economic sectors in the country, including agriculture.
He said modern agriculture is the culmination of historical process based on demographic movements, technological innovations and evolving international trade relationship and added that sharing of genetic resources, biodiversity, knowledge and technologies has resulted in international interdependence.
"In today's world, a dialogue among different nations is essential to maintain and utilise each other's resources for food security and sustainable agriculture development."
Mehar said that scientists have brought to our attention complex problems bearing on our very survival such as global warming, threats to the Ozone layer, desert consuming agriculture land, environmental degradation. He said many critical survival issues are related to uneven development, poverty and population growth. "They all also put unprecedented pressure on our natural resources."
What is needed now is a new era of economic growth that is forceful and at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable, the minister said.
He said dramatic reduction of biodiversity world-wide has spelled serious problems for maintenance of ecological equilibrium at the planet level and added that ecologists tend to focus on the onsite and off-site effects of agriculture on the environment without considering agriculture as livelihood.
"Economists are concerned with the economic return of the labour and capital resources invested in farming process, and tend more to ecological impacts. Agronomist occupies themselves especially with the physical performance of the production system."
He said this specialisation of established scientific disciplines is at times necessary, but often create confusion for decision makers that have to decide about the future direction of technological development in agriculture.
Mehar called upon the scientists that above-mentioned aspects of agriculture must be addressed since each one is fundamental for the sustainability of the sector.
The minister said there is substantial agreement that at least three fundamental should be considered when attempting to define sustainable agriculture; the ecological view of the agriculture techniques must be environmentally sound; these techniques must be economically viable and they must be acceptable to farming society, culture, ethics and religion.
Referring to population growth, he said world-wide arable land per capita was already less than 0.27 hectare per capita and it is expected to decline further because of population growth.
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