Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTBL) and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) on Tuesday organized national level webinar aimed at uniting agriculture experts, academia, lenders, farmers and other stakeholders for ensuring food security.
The webinar being first of its kind, is an attempt by ZTBL as financial lender and PARC as research institute to mitigate the challenges faced to farming community in the country.
ZTBL had gathered farmers in its 31 zonal offices across the country under the leadership of President/CEO ZTBL Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti for attending the lectures/research findings of agriculture scientists.
The webinar was addressed by Chairman PARC Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali besides Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, famers and independent experts.
Management of ZTBL and PARC reached a conclusion after extensive deliberations that there was a dire need to unite stakeholders of agriculture on a common platform for sharing their thoughts on challenges faced to food insecurity in the country.
President ZTBL Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti was of the view that small farmers should be strengthened by equipping them with financial and technical assistance. “Big farmers somehow manage their problems but small farmer solely depends on resources which he lacks. ZTBL will ensure small farmers are properly equipped and informed,” Mr Bhatti said.
Board member ZTBL Zaigham Mehmood Rizvi lamented that despite water scarcity, agriculture water is being wasted in the country for which stakeholders need to join heads to bridge the gap.
He said all agriculture universities should share their research proposals so that overlapping/duplication in research is minimized. “It is time to bring our research work to markets from labs and pilot projects,” he said.
