March 11 , 2017
News
China to possibly assist Pakistani agriculture under CPEC: FPCCI
By: PPIISLAMABAD: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Regional Standing Committee Chairman Ahmad Jawad said China has done remarkable advancement in their agriculture sector and in little time they had become the largest exporters of agriculture and horticulture sector in Asia and Europe.
Talking to media on Saturday, Jawad said it is the need of hour to revamp agriculture sector in consonance with the modern trends to increase production and to make it profitable. He added that agriculture, in Pakistan, lags far behind from the rest of the world. He further said that they had requested Chinese authorities to assist Pakistan agriculture sector to overcome the affects of climate change under CPEC
He said, “It’s time government must promote drill sowing and quality seeds especially for wheat and cotton that will enhance the growth rate up to 4 percent. Similarly, the country was losing the grains and fruits from 20 to 40 percent in the post harvest losses for which we have to promote the modern post harvest practices.”
He continued, “Amid the situation of climate changes, we have to invest on breeding to develop the climate resilient varieties.” Jawad said that with regards to this, the government must give a time frame to our research centres and universities for mutual collaboration.
FPCCI official also urged the agricultural experts to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to the issues facing the sector and farming community.
Regarding the geographic importance of Pakistan, he said, “Pakistan was situated at the geographically important place from where we can easily export our agricultural produce to Central Asia, Middle East, China and other countries which had large food markets.”
Jawad maintained, “Value chain and marketing system must be developed at par with the international standards in order to flourish the sector.” He said tangible initiatives based on research would pave the way to compete with the modern world.
He further pointed out, “We are wasting our resources owing to inefficient use of water and other inputs. It is the need of the hour to use resources wisely which would save millions of the rupees.”
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk