Need for modern technology use in agriculture stressed

LAHORE, Feb 14 (APP):Use of modern techniques and technologies
in Agriculture is the need of the hour which carries equal significance
for both the businessmen and the men of science and technology.
It was upshot of the speeches delivered at a seminar on ‘High
Value Agriculture’ held here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry
on Wednesday. The LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid, Ceo Yuksel Seeds, Turkey Yaqub Yuksel, Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Mechanized & High Value Agriculture Mian Shafqat Ali, Ex-vice Chancellor Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi Dr Rai Niaz Ahmed, Dr Khawaja
Asif, Mian Shaukat Ali, Faisal Iqbal Sheikh and Naeem Hanif also
spoke on the occasion.
The experts said that there was a dire need for reforms in
agriculture sector and addition in cropped area as country could
not afford to stay where it was today in terms of cropped areas
and per hectare yield because it was already running well short of
per capita food availability. They said that yield gap in the four
major crops of Pakistan was three times from the best producers in
the world such as China and Egypt. They said that low yield had
contributed to the poverty in rural areas besides forcing country
to import agriculture produces to feed its population.
Malik Tahir Javaid said the agriculture sector of Pakistan
continued to be the single largest and dominant driving force for
growth which contributed almost 19.5 percent in Gross Domestic
Product. It was the main source of livelihood for 42.3 percent
of total labour force despite the fact that agriculture mechanization
in Pakistan was very limited.
He said that area under cultivation for important crops accounted
for 23.85 percent of the value added in overall agriculture. Wheat accounted
for 9.6 percent of the total value added in agriculture and cotton production was
10.67 million bales. For the sake of increasing the share of agriculture sector in
GDP, the existing area of cultivation had to be increased on war-footing.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that due to lack of technology usage in agriculture
sector, we face the problem of crops yields gaps. The
average yields production in the agriculture sector of Pakistan was
far below the level of those countries that used the technology in
their agriculture sector, he said, citing that level of yields of
different crops was 50 to 83 percent lower than the average of other countries
of the world. He said the prospects of Pakistan’s economic prosperity heavily
depended on the performance of agriculture sector.
It had to be evaluated that government was giving subsidy to farmers
at various stages of purchasing fertilizers, pesticides, seeds as
well as selling their output at support prices but still this sector
had not succeeded in enhancing the level of productivity.
He said that in the present scenario of water scarcity, the
sustainable food security of Pakistan had to be ensured by way of
adopting new techniques. “There are many developing countries like
Pakistan which are encouraging corporate farming and in parallel
to that they are fostering high value agriculture that include vertical farming,
hydroponics farming, aquaponics farming and arctic farming etc.
If government helps the farmers in acquiring these technologies at affordable
prices then it is highly likely that new employment opportunities will be created
and the productivity will also increase.”
Mian Shaukat Ali said that Chamber of Commerce and Industry played
an important role to promote agriculture sector of any country. All Chambers
of Commerce and industry of Pakistan should pay attention to agriculture so
that they could highly contribute in development of
this sector. He said that another problem of agricultural sector
was lack of agricultural graduates or their non-seriousness towards agricultural
developments, adding that had they worked for the
development of this sector seriously it would be beneficial for
the country.