Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said the import bill for agricultural products is rising while the issue of food security is also becoming grave.
More than half of the population of a country with fertile land and the world’s best canal system covering almost 25 thousand kilometers is facing malnutrition as agriculture production has been on the decline for years, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that agriculture imports during the first two months of the current fiscal have almost doubled than the corresponding year to 1.5 billion dollars while the import of urea will also require a hefty amount of foreign exchange.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that agriculture is the backbone of the economy but it has never attracted the attention of the policymakers which has resulted in its continued fall resulting in a serious food security problem.
He said that ignoring the issues confronted by farmers has left them poor and that the country cannot progress unless the farmers are comfortable.
Policymakers are obsessed with other sectors and non-issues while farming communities are left at the mercy of middlemen, loan sharks, and profiteers while substandard inputs like seed, pesticides, urea, etc. continue to damage this critical sector.
Farmers never get proper loans or benefit from research resulting in the collapse of important crops resulting in imports, he said, adding that an agricultural recovery program is needed to tackle increasing population and counter rising food prices in the international market.
Agriculture policies should be changed to promote the interests of farmers, reduce migration, the curriculum should be altered to attract youth to this sector, reforms should be introduced to reduce prices and pave the way for local and foreign investment.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that Pakistan borders the world’s two most populous countries and a developed agriculture sector will not only strengthen national security but also help earn foreign exchange through exports.
Promotion of agriculture will also help boost the textile sector which spends billions every year to import cotton, he said.
