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ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (APP):Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday expressed a strong commitment to transforming Pakistan’s agriculture sector on a scientific, data-driven basis, making it climate-resilient and aligned with international standards.
Addressing the launching ceremony of the 7th Agricultural Census 2024 titled “Integrated Digital Country,” compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the minister said the latest and most accurate data on agricultural land, machinery and livestock would help the government formulate future policies for the uplift of the sector and the achievement of national economic goals.
“Before this census, all calculations were carried out manually, based largely on guesswork, with fragmented data across cultivable land, agricultural machinery and livestock. Now, for the first time, all statistics have been compiled digitally,” he said.
With this milestone, the minister said, Pakistan has entered a new era of evidence-based agricultural transformation that would enable the full utilization of available resources.
Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that agriculture was considered the backbone of the national economy, contributing around 24 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing 38 percent of the workforce.
Referring to the new census data, he said the size of cultivable land in the country has increased from 42.6 million acres to 52.8 million acres.
Although the number of farm households has surged from 8.3 million to 11.7 million, the average landholding has decreased from 6.4 acres to 5.1 acres.
He stressed the urgent need to promote a culture of cooperative farming based on scientific principles to achieve self-sufficiency in the agriculture sector and ensure national food security.
The minister also noted that the number of livestock has risen from 143 million to 251 million, reflecting a growth rate of 3 percent.
With the availability of this comprehensive data, he said, the government would now be able to formulate more effective and targeted policies, uplifting small farmers both financially and technologically, and putting the country on the path to sustainable development.
Under the URAAN Pakistan initiative, he said, the government was working to digitize all sectors of the national economy to ensure greater accuracy, transparency and efficiency.
Ahsan Iqbal urged agricultural scientists to fully utilize their expertise to boost the production of crops and milk, highlighting the significant gap between local and international production levels.