KARACHI: Chairman of the National Business Group Pakistan and President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain has said the whole world, including Pakistan, is facing a serious food security threat. Urgent steps are needed to avoid food insecurity in Pakistan, otherwise the situation will go out of control, he said.
Mian Zahid said that the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, untimely rains, water shortages, and skyrocketing prices of seeds, pesticides and fertilisers are pushing the whole world towards food security crises.
He said that unseasonal snowfall, rains and floods have served to worsen the situation in many countries that export agricultural produce while crops are being affected all over the world, including Pakistan, due to rising fuel prices.
He said the current state of agriculture in the world is unprecedented and even if all the countries work together to tackle it, many years could pass before noticeable signs of improvement appear.
Maize production around the world has been severely affected, which will push up the prices of meat and poultry as it is widely used as animal feed, he said. Ukraine’s share in global wheat exports is 11 percent and in maize exports 17 percent. So even if the Ukraine-Russia war ends today, which is unlikely, it will take many years to revive its agriculture as its infrastructure has been destroyed.
The business leader pointed out that despite the food crisis, the process of producing fuel from agricultural commodities is continuing, which is unfortunate. China too is importing food products heavily, which is also fuelling shortages, he said. In the current financial year Pakistan has imported $17 billion worth of agricultural products, including $10 billion worth of food items, $2 billion worth of cotton, $4 billion worth of edible oil and $1 billion worth of tea.
If converted into Pakistani currency, the total amount becomes Rs 4300 billion which can be used for boosting agriculture production, introducing a corporate agriculture system and supporting farmers. He said that farmers should be persuaded to plant wheat, pulses, canola, tea, rice and olives, etc. to ensure an industrial and agricultural revolution; otherwise famine will grip the country soon.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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