Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations' Director General (DG) Qu Dongyu has called for further deepening cooperation with Pakistan to tackle food insecurity, malnutrition and rural poverty.
Dongyu on Saturday said that Pakistan, though a country with enormous agricultural potential but constrained by significant challenges, was a key priority in the organisation's long-term international partnerships.
The FAO director general expressed these views during a meeting with members of the sub-committee of the National Assembly Special Committee on Agricultural Products headed by Fakhar Imam.
He said, "The main reason that I first came here after assuming charge was because, I am from Asia, China. We want solid cooperation in the Asia Pacific."
"I chose Pakistan as my first step and Pakistan contribute a lot to the FAO," Dongyu said.
He said, "We want to bring more donor countries to support the vulnerablenations." Dongyu said, "We want to support food crises-hit countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nigera."
"90 percent of global poverty is in these countries," he pointed out.
Imam, the convener of the Sub-Committee on Agricultural Products presented a holistic picture of Pakistan's agro-economy and listed key constraints that hindered successful transformation of Pakistan's agriculture sector.
He outlined that Pakistan's progress in agriculture sector was far below its true potential.
Imam said that growth in the agricultural productivity had lost momentum, leaving Pakistan's rural population to face continuing high levels of poverty, and food insecurity, as well as limited access to the public services and markets required for a modern economy.
He stated that the agriculture sector over the last three decades had been relegated to secondary priorities in the policy-making circles and urged the need for special attention to agriculture.
Highlighting the rationale for the formation of a Special Committee on Agricultural Products, Imam added that reversing Pakistan's agricultural stagnation warranted building political momentum, ownership and close scrutiny of agriculture policies.
He underlined the need for strategic investments in agricultural science, technology, research, infrastructure and high value agriculture production.
Imam said, "We have about a $300 billion economy and 19 percent directly come from the agriculture sector."
He said, "In the agriculture sector, 61 percent of the GDP was generated from livestock." Crop sector 35 to 36 percent, Imam added. He said that 90 percent of our farms were small therefore we need a complete paradigm shift how to give incentives to these farmers.
Imam said that the main reason of lowest fertility was that we were over using our land.
"Malnutrition is one of our main issues, which cause stunting of our children," he said.
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