Federal Minister for Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam here Thursday said that use of latest technology in agriculture research was imperative to achieve self-sufficiency in food services.
Talking to media persons here at Agriculture Institute (ARI) Tarnab before getting briefing on the Prime Minister’s National Agriculture Emergency Program and progress on Agriculture Transformation Plan, the minister said that China had made rapid progress because of the use of modern technology and Pakistan had the potential to achieve new heights of economic development and achieve autarky in food by using latest techniques, innovations, mechanization and modern technology especially in agriculture and livestock sectors to earn maximum capital.
He said the country needed quality scientists and new researches in agricultural development, adding that the great responsibilities rest on our scientists and PhD scholars of agriculture universities and colleges to prepare students for modern day challenges.
Fakhar Imam said he had held constructive meetings with Chinese agricultural scientists and invited them to visit the country’s agriculture educational and research institutes to deliver lectures so that the students and young scholars could get more knowledge from their rich experiences.
The minister said agriculture was backbone of the country’s economy and the government was making efforts to make modern agriculture technology part of the existing educational curriculum to broaden knowledge of students and get maximum agriculture, livestock and fisheries production.
Asked about KP’s share in Agriculture Transformation Plan, the minister said that special projects were launched for increasing value addition of corps, fruits, vegetables, livestock and fisheries besides promoting floriculture.
The minister said US, Brazil and Argentina were leading exporters of edible oil while China and India’s Soyabean’s production has touched 240 million tons while Pakistan despite having great potential was spending huge amount on its imports.
He termed it welcoming that the soyabean was being cultivated on about 1500 to 2000 acres areas alone in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A record production of wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane was witnessed last year and Pakistan was moving to achieve self-sufficiency in sugarcane this year, he added.—APP
