ISLAMABAD, Jun 24 (APP): Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam Thursday stressed the need to adopt modern techniques in the agriculture sector so that the country could be made self-sufficient in staple food production.
“We should make investment in the agriculture sector to compete the world,” he said while taking part in the budget debate 2021-22 in the National Assembly.
He said the present government was going to upgrade its research centers in collaboration with Chinese government to get benefit of its expertise and services in the agriculture sector.
Fakhar Imam said Prime Minister Imran Khan was going to introduce the facility of Kissan Card that would help farmers get direct funding, bringing the middleman role to an end.
For the first time in the country’s history, he said the agriculture sector was being given due priority at the prime minister level as Imran Khan said time and again that living standard of the farmers was needed to be improved.
In the past, the minister said only Rs 1 billion or 2 billions were allocated for the Ministry of Food Security and Research which were extremely insufficient.
During the current year, he said a record production was achieved in four major crops including wheat, maize, rice and sugarcane, which would help giving a substantial boost to the national economy.
“Modern research and innovation in the field of agriculture, especially research in seeds of different major and minor crops by the agricultural experts can bring a revolution in the agrarian economy,” he added.
The minister said quality research and intellect in the agriculture sector was need of hour to achieve the agenda of ‘Food Security’ in the country.
Fakhar Imam said the country’s wheat production this time remained 27.3 million tons, while last year’s it was at 26.7 million tons.
The minister said the government was going to revive the cotton production strategy by adopting new technology.
He said modern agriculture needed knowledge-based technology and inputs besides transfer of technology.
He said the growth rate of agriculture sector had come down to 3 percent during the last 20 years which was a big challenge for the country, and all federal and provincial governments should focus on agriculture sector.