National Agriculture and Food Security in Pakistan

CPEC to help boost Pakistan’s agriculture sector; fulfill food security needs: Experts

CPEC is improving Pakistan’s connectivity not only
within itself and China, but with over 60 other BRI countries as well. With the
second phase of the Chinese venture presenting opportunities to collaborate in
the social sector, substantial emphasis needs be laid on the development of the
country’s agriculture sector, which offers huge prospects of growth and trade.

The message emerged from a policy dialogue ‘National
Agriculture and Food Security in Pakistan’, which was held at Institute of
Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad in collaboration with Pakistan Agriculture
Scientists Forum (PAS Forum) on January 25, 2020. The session was addressed by
Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan, chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council
(PARC); Professor Dr Anwar-ul-Hasan Gilani, vice chancellor, University of
Haripur and ex-chairman, Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST);
Professor Dr Amanullah Malik, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad; Khalid
Rahman, Executive President IPS; and Dr Abdul Wakeel, president, PAS Forum.

Presenting an overview of Pakistan’s agriculture
sector, Dr Azeem Khan emphasized the need of enhancing productivity of various
potential sub sectors of agriculture, not only with an aim to address the
country’s food security concerns, but also to alleviate it for international
trade.

Khan rued that Pakistan was a food exporting country
till 2013 but became a food importing country thereafter. However, he observed
that the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor offers a good
opportunity to help the agriculture sector to recover, but the onus largely
lies with the nation to set targets and strategies carefully in order to
benefit from the forthcoming opportunities.

The PARC chairman was all for alleviating the
agriculture sector via business-oriented model, which in his opinion, could
only be done through value addition i.e. converting raw materials into standard
commercial products and brands. He highlighted that combinations of different
commodities and products being produced alongside the CPEC routes boast
significant prospects in this regard. There is a huge potential for the
production and export of fodder, edible oils and palm oil, whereas pulses and
oil seeds are some other lucrative areas to invest in.

The speaker however pointed out that the post-harvest
losses still remain a concern in the country, before adding that the solution
lies in careful measures taken in the areas of production, diversification,
post-harvest handling, processing, certification, and value addition – all
aimed at converting the harvest into high-value products while enabling them to
maintain apex standards for international trade.

Khan also spoke fervently about the prevalent state of
malnutrition in Pakistan, terming it unprecedentedly high while maintaining that
a nutritionally food secure Pakistan should be the country’s top most goal.

Dr Malik spoke about potentials and opportunities for
Pakistan’s agricultural sector in relevance to CPEC mega projects. He mentioned
several agriculture items in which Pakistan could enjoy a competitive advantage
over the rest of the world, especially when it comes to China.

The professor said that China is the world’s biggest
farm produce importer, with its imports making up to 10 % of global farm
produce trade. The country is a net importer of bulk agriculture products and
there has been rapid growth in its imports from Belt and Road countries
off-late. Pakistan too can target some of its exports to China such as soybean,
barley, corn, wheat and cereals. Rice is the country’s major export to China
but there is a lot more potential to it as well. In terms of fruit, cherries,
grapes, mangoes, guavas and oranges are some of the products that can be looked
at. He however added that about 70% of China’s agriculture imports come from the
USA, Brazil, South East Asia, European Union and Australia, and it will be very
challenging, yet necessary, to raise our quality standards to compete with
these countries.

Pakistan was sorely lacking in utilizing technology for
its agricultural requirements when compared to other countries, Dr Gilani
lamented while pressing for the need to make use of modern technological
systems and methods that could cope with present-day challenges like global
warming and climate change.

The speaker stressed focusing and investing on local
capacity building initiatives as well as on improving access to international
markets. He urged immediate measures such as making crops nutritive and
resilient to climate change, rescuing of more farmland, empowering of small landholders,
de-urbanization, preservation of water, recycling of crop/livestock waste and
saving of food through public awareness drives if Pakistan is to answer its
rising food security threats.