Agriculture Policy of Pakistan discussed- Focus on Small and Medium Farms emphasized by the Experts

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A webinar entitled “Review of Agriculture Policy in Pakistan” was organized by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) on 16 August 2020. The webinar was moderated by a Fellow of PAS Prof. Dr. Iqrar A. Khan and attended by a large number of agricultural experts, academia, economists, students and other peoples from all walks of life.

The agricultural experts discussed the agriculture policy of Pakistan and its issues such as land and water productivity/sustainability, climate change, diversification, stagnant yields, post-harvest losses & markets, social disparity, malnutrition and food security.

Experts such as Dr. Akmal Hussain from the Planning Commission of Pakistan, Dr. Yusuf Zafar (former Chairman of Pakistan Agricultural Council, Usman Rafique, Shaukat Bhatti and others made presentations and shared their ideas. President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor H. Soomro also shared his wisdom and experiences with reference to education of farming communities, use of new technologies and engagement of youth especially the rural, for a long term sustainable agricultural productivity and livelihoods of the farmers.

Dr. Parvaiz Amir spoke particularly the water and energy sectors sustainability and technologies involved; and to where should the tree plantation take place etc. Other experts in their talks/presentation said that in the past there was institutional development such as R&D, ADFC/ADBP, APCOM, PARC, PAEC, etc by the government which brought green revolution in the country and maximized the yielding of various crops but unfortunately, the policy could not continue and resulted in low yielding/shortage of food and surfacing of other agricultural issues.

Finally former Minister and Agriculture Policy architect of Pakistan of the 1980, spoke as the Chief Guest of the discussion and highlighted the key drivers of agriculture economy. It was concluded that the great potential lies in the small and medium farm sector which is the 90% of the total farms and it constitutes 60% of the farm area in Pakistan. The experts further said that the focus of Agriculture policy should be shifted to small and medium sector by engaging them and other stakeholders in the process of policy making to get more benefits and yields to achieve the agricultural targets and create equality among the farmers. Thus, the agriculture policy should be devised accordingly.