KARACHI: A former chairman of the standing committee on agriculture of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ahmad Jawad, has asked the government to prioritize the agriculture sector in its economic planning to avert shortages of essential goods.

“We have been experimenting with different ideas like rapid industrialization and private sector investments in the services sector in an attempt to give the economy a boost, and for it to function beyond the sphere of agricultural influence. However, the situation remained economically precarious. We have to understand that it is only a preponderate agriculture sector that would guarantee a prosperous future for the country,” he said.

Food security and higher yields have been the top priorities of all the developed countries. They have been exploring new avenues to achieve their targets of food self-sufficiency while “we are still banking on the primitive and antiquated ways of research at NARC and PARC”.

The budget allocation for the agriculture sector had been slashed by 48 per cent in the current fiscal.

The agriculture sector has been witnessing a paradigm shift of capitulating its most fertile pieces of land to the housing societies.

“Agriculture sector has proved to be the weakest link in the current macroeconomic planning and strategies. Locust attacks, poor governance, bad planning, climate change and lack of investment in seed technology and agriculture research have already resulted in shortage of wheat, sugar and cotton. Import bill of cotton will also be substantially high owing to record low production.”

“The government should make every possible effort to provide relief to the masses.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020