Our Correspondent Faisalabad
Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Chaudhary Talat Mahmood has demanded of the authorities concerned to impose strict ban on construction of commercial, industrial or residential units on cultivable agricultural land to avert increasing threats of food security.
Addressing the second meeting of the FCCI Standing Committee on CPEC here on Saturday, he expressed grave concern over the unprecedented increase in the import bill of food items.
Ch. Talat Mahmood said that the government must take immediate remedial measures to check this negative trend through policy intervention, providing maximum incentives and encouraging technology transfer at the farm level.
He appreciated the mega project of olive cultivation in Pakistan and said that it will not only cut down our import bill of edible oil but also have a positive salutary impact on the overall environment.
Patron-in-chief of the Standing Committee Engr Ahmed Hassan stressed the need to introduce latest agriculture technologies to enhance per acre yield.
He said that it will help to overcome the issue of rural poverty in addition to achieving food autarky.
He also demanded a massive awareness campaign to motivate rural farmers to shun century old conventional practices and use drip irrigation in addition to promoting the concept of tunnel farming.
He mentioned multiple problems faced by the agriculture sector including contracting land resources, increasing role of middlemen.
