Federal Minister National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan has said that state-of-the-art crop forecasting system has been installed at Suparco and the Crop Reporting Services of Punjab and Sindh by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN and the US Department of Agriculture.
The Federal Minister has said Pakistan's economy is heavily dependent on the agriculture sector and this sector feeds and employs Pakistan's people, supplies raw material for the country's industry and provides a source for most of our country's exports. To put it in numbers, the agriculture sector employs 44 percent of Pakistan's labour force, contributes 21 percent of the GDP, and is responsible for about 65 percent of the total exports.
Sikandar Bosan has stated that despite its significant role, the agriculture sector does not function at its full potential. "Compared to the developed and many developing countries with similar resource base, the productivity of Pakistan's agriculture sector today is low.
With current levels of productivity, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the agriculture sector to feed the country's populations well as to compete in the world markets," he added. Bosan has said that lack of resources, poor investment in inputs due to the lack of credit availability, old management techniques and the absence of modern technology are some of the key issues that need to be addressed to increase the productivity and growth of the sector.
Federal Minister has stated that "it makes me very happy to know that the FAO of the UN, supported by United States Department of Agriculture is working with Pakistan's specialists to bring some of the latest technologies into the agriculture sector. The geo-spatial crop forecasting systems that FAO has installed at Suparco and the Crop Reporting Services of Punjab and Sindh is an example of the skill and knowledge our country needs to strengthen our role in the world's agricultural markets and in ensuring the food security of our own people." Bosan has said Geo spatial crop forecasting system FAO installed at Suparco and crop reporting services of Punjab.-PR