KARACHI: Rafique Suleman, former Chairman Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and Vice President candidate for the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) election for the year 2024-25 has said reforms in the country’s agricultural sector will be top priority, if elected.

Suleman, a leading rice exporter is for the first time contesting FPCCI election as Vice President from the Businessman Panel (BMP). He is aggressive to work for the country’s agricultural sector to enhance the exports to bring more foreign exchange for the country.

Talking to media he said that despite the fact Pakistan is an agricultural country, it is compelled to import wheat for domestic consumption as the country’s per acre yield is much lower than other developing countries.

“Agricultural sector is always neglected and there is no sufficient investment on the Research and Development (R&D), of which Pakistan’s agricultural sector performance is on down,” he added.

Rice is the one of the most exported commodities and Pakistani exporters earned $2.5 billion foreign exchange for the country during the last fiscal year (FY23). REAP is making efforts to enhance the rice exports and most likely annual rice export will reach $3 billion for the first time by end of this fiscal year (FY24), he added.

Suleman said that Pakistan needs to enhance the per acre yield to ensure sufficient availability of commodities for the export purpose and earn more foreign exchange through exports.

“If, I am elected as Vice President FPCCI, agricultural reform will be top priority. On the platform of FPCCI, we will ask the government to initiate agricultural reforms in the country to reduce the cost of production and encourage farmers to grow more for the country.”

He said the rice of Pakistan is loved all over the world, while new markets are also beginning to open in Pakistan, therefore there is need to enhance the domestic production.

Suleman said that because of the ban on Indian rice, there is a huge demand for Pakistani rice in the world market and Pakistani rice is being sold more expensively than India in the world market. Pakistan has a very good rice crop production this year and it will help to achieve the $3 billion rice export target, he added.

He has requested the business community to support the BMP candidates in the upcoming FPCCI election to be held on Saturday 30, 2023.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023