Averting-Food-Crisis-Strict-Ban-On-Construction-On-Agriculture-Lands

Strict Ban Likely On Construction Of Commercial, Industrial & Residential Units On Cultivable Agricultural Land To Avert Food Security Crisis

This news was originally published at The News.

Faisalabad Chamber Of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Talat Mahmood Saturday Said A Strict Ban Was Likely On The Construction Of Commercial, Industrial Or Residential Units On Cultivable Agricultural Land To Avert Food Security Crisis. Addressing the second meeting of the FCCI Standing Committee on CPEC, Talat expressed grave concern over unprecedented increase in the import bill of food items. He said the fovernment must take immediate remedial measures to check this negative trend through policy intervention, providing maximum incentives and encouraging technology transfer at farm level.

He appreciated the mega project of olive cultivation in the country and said that it would not only cut down our import bill of edible oil but also have a positive salutary impact on the overall environment. Engineer Ahmed Hassan Patron-in-chief of the standing committee stressed the need to introduce latest agriculture technologies to enhance per acre yield. He said it would help to overcome the issue of rural poverty in addition to achieving food autarky.

He also demanded a massive awareness campaign to motivate rural farmers to shun century old conventional practices and use drip irrigation in addition to promoting the concept of tunnel farming. He mentioned multiple problems faced by the agriculture sector, including contracting land resources, increasing role of middlemen, supply chain problems, non availability of skilled manpower and unprecedented increase in agriculture inputs.

Engineer Ahmed Hassan also mentioned hydroponic technology and said that it could immediately meet the demand of vegetables and foods particularly around the urban areas. He said a scheduled meeting of Pakistan-China joint commission could not be held due to coronavirus lockdown, however in its next meeting Pakistan must ensure early transfer of Chinese technology in addition to the production of high yielding and disease resistant variety of different crops.

He said next meeting of SC will exclusively discuss the energy related problems. Tahir Yaqoob Chairman Standing Committee also stressed the need to utilise latest agriculture technologies to enhance per acre production. He also appreciated the cultivation of olive in Pakistan and said that many progressive parties have launched joint ventures for the extraction and marketing of olive oil.The meeting was also attended by Muhammad Amjad Khawaja, Muzammil Sultan and others.

This news was originally published at The News.