Additional Secretary Minfal, Shahid Hussain Raja has stressed for adopting a multidimensional approach to increase the per acre yield in order to meet the food requirement of the ever increasing population of the country.
He said this while addressing a day long workshop on National Agriculture Sector Strategy (Nass) organised by Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Livestock, Government and Agriculture, Livestock & Co-operatives Department Government of NWFP, said a press release issued here on Saturday.
The workshop was also addressed by Shahrukh Arbab, NWFP Secretary Agriculture, Livestock & Co-operatives and attended by a large number of farmers representatives, officials of agriculture, livestock department of the province.
Speaking on the occasion, Additional Secretary Minfal said that agriculture is the only sector where we can make tremendous progress as in sectors like industries we cannot compete any country of the world, therefore, he stressed for adopting a multi dimensional approach to increase the per acre yield to meet the food requirement of the country.
He further said that the Government of Pakistan is in the process of framing future strategy for the agriculture sector of the country by holding workshops at all the provinces to consult and accommodate recommendations of the expert and farming community in the said policy.
He said that Allah has gifted our province with a rich land resource with plenty of water which is more ideal for growing fruits, flowers and vegetables as compared to sugarcane. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Agriculture, Shahrukh Arbab said that NWFP has a comparative advantage than other provinces for having remarkable potentials for livestock and horticulture sector which needed to be focused by the federal government.
He said that in order to increase the productivity of the agriculture sector the government is striving to focus on small landholders and ensure judicious prices for their product besides facilitating them access to financial services for reducing their risks.
He said that with active participation of the farming community they will be able to lead the agriculture sector of the province into the right direction for achieving self sufficiency in food items. Muqarrab Ali Khan, Director L&DDD NWFP presented papers on the present status and future direction of the livestock and dairy development of the province which was lauded by the participants.
The secretary agriculture, NWFP thanked the federal government representatives for coming to Peshawar to interact and accommodate recommendations of the provincial government, farming community in formulating the future agriculture strategy of the country.