Lahore Chamber Of Commerce And Industry For Focusing Agri Sector To Support Economy

Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Mian Tariq Misbah on Friday hoped that agriculture would be the prime area of focus for the policy makers as this sector alone could lift the economy to the peak

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Feb, 2021 ) :Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Mian Tariq Misbah on Friday hoped that agriculture would be the prime area of focus for the policy makers as this sector alone could lift the economy to the peak.

Talking to a group of businessmen and exporters here, he said that agriculture sector was considered the backbone of Pakistan's economy but it was faced with many problems including lack of appropriate technology, high input cost, unavailability of water and shrinking cropped area.

The LCCI President said that major crops such as cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables could bring in huge foreign exchange for the country but despite having all resources, there was a huge gap between demand and production that was hitting the allied industries.

Mian Tariq Misbah urged the government to add to the cropped area to avoid any crisis-like situation that was already being witnessed in cotton production. He said, "We cannot afford to stay where we are today in terms of cropped areas and per hectare yield because we are already running short of per capita food and raw material for the industry availability." The LCCI President said that though Pakistan's over 43% labor force was dependent upon agriculture, the yield gap in the four major crops of Pakistan was three times from the best producers in the world such as China and Egypt. He said that low yield had contributed to the poverty in rural areas besides forcing country to import agriculture produces to feed its population.

The LCCI President said factors that were recommended to improve the yield were through large scale introduction of hybrid seeds and mechanized farming, high efficiently irrigation systems such as drip irrigation and reduction in post harvest losses through introduction of privately owned cold storage facilities and establishment of agri processed industry.

Mian Tariq Misbah said that future belonged to Biotechnology and Pakistan had tremendous potential to emerge as Biotechnology leader but to achieve this goal, private sector, scientists, researchers and government would have to work hand in hand.

He said that Pakistan's agriculture sector was losing due to insufficient utilization of biotechnology as the magic progress of agriculture sector was only due to Genetically Modified crops. He said that agriculture sector in Pakistan had a huge potential. It continued to be the single largest and dominant driving force for growth as well as the main source of livelihood for 66 percent of Pakistan's population. But it had always faced two major problems: first, productions per acre were lower than many other countries. Secondly, around 40% of production was wasted in the form of post-harvest losses due to insufficient utilization of biotechnology and non-existence of food process industry, he added.