LAHORE: Experts are of the view that Pakistan’s agricultural sector needs a major transformation to meet its growing population which is projected to reach 403 million by the year 2050 from the current estimates of 240.5 million.
Pakistan would be among the eight countries to account for half of the projected global population growth by 2050, along with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Philippines and the USA, they added.
These experts were speaking at a workshop jointly organized by CropLife Pakistan, a representative body of the plant sciences industry, and the Agricultural Journalists Association (AJA) to discuss the challenges faced by Pakistan’s agriculture. “Our country needs to exploit all the opportunities, including a formal introduction of GM crops, developing new potent seeds, precision agriculture, intellectual property (IP) rights protection etc to feed its ever-increasing population as well as produce an export surplus,” said Muhammad Shoaib, lead biotechnology and seed of CropLife.
Shoaib disclosed that the Pakistani government was in the process of developing a policy for permitting the GMOs at food level. “We are supposed to continue our research in new seeds with new technologies but not for commercial purposes, which discourage these companies,” he added.
Biotech crops increased over 112-fold from 1996, with an accumulated biotech area of 2.7 billion hectares making biotechnology the fastest adopted crop technology in the world. The most adopted biotech crops by the 29 countries were soybeans, maize, cotton, and canola. Soybean was the leading biotech crop with 91.9 million hectares that occupied 48% of the global biotech crop area.
He said 460 million acres of GM crops are grown globally without any documented environmental safety incidents. In Pakistan, GM cotton had been cultivated on 7-8 million acres for over a decade; again with no recorded adverse impact on the soil quality or the environment. Similarly, the poultry sector was importing soybeans for its feed purposes.
Muhammad Asim, a member CropLife Bio-technology committee speaking on this occasion said that “Regenerative Agriculture (RA)” was the new trend in the agricultural sector. It was an outcome-based farming approach that enhances soil health, mitigate climate change, improve water retention and biodiversity, and increase farm productivity through innovation, he added.
Integrating crop sciences, technologies and practices was crucial to realizing the vision of RA, which encompasses environmental benefits, supports rural livelihoods, ensures food security, and advances sustainable agriculture, he added.
Murtaza Quddusi, another speaker, leading a panel discussion said that the usage of drones in the agricultural sector was time-saving, conserved water, targeted application of agricultural inputs and cheaper in cost. Similarly, he said drone usage was safer to operate as compared to conventional application of chemicals and fertilizers and it was also helpful in the implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023