Vice Chairman SAARC Youth Entrepreneur Forum, Pakistan chapter Shaharyar Ali Malik Wednesday said public-private sector in SAARC member states should join hands for increasing investment in agriculture research to boost crop yield to strengthen food security in South Asian region.
Lahore ( Inp) : Vice Chairman Saarc Youth Entrepreneur Forum, (Pakistan Point news - 07th Mar, 2018): Vice Chairman SAARC Youth Entrepreneur Forum, Pakistan chapter Shaharyar Ali Malik Wednesday said public-private sector in SAARC member states should join hands for increasing investment in agriculture research to boost crop yield to strengthen food security in South Asian region. Shaharyar Malik expressed these views while talking to SAARC President Suraj Vaidya by telephone here today.
SAARC President invited him to Nepal to participate three-day 6th SAARC business Leaders Conclave to be held in Kathmandu from March 16 where Shaharyar Malik will represent Youth Entrepreneurs in field of agriculture industry in South Asia. He observed that the SAARC countries have great potential to cooperate with each other for the development of agriculture sector, however there is need to cooperate and share research and technology with the member countries to help them develop their agriculture on modern lines.
Shaharyar said although agriculture is well protected sector in South Asia but it is also least integrated in the region and asked investors to look into the tremendous potential for investments in agriculture sector. He further said that value addition can be made in agriculture and allied sectors like dairying, fisheries, poultry, food processing, setting up of cold storage facilities and refrigerated vans. "Adding value to the farm produce is crucial for increasing farmers' income and establishing agri-related industries in the rural areas will not only provide employment but also help in minimizing migration to cities, he added.
He said a production survey should be contacted in the member countries to find out the exact production pattern of commodities and products produced, technologies used for the purpose, various inputs applied, costs and finally the cost-benefit ratio. As a result of this survey, the countries which are found the best producers of certain commodities, they should assist the less-developed countries to produce specified commodities with equal advantage depending on their ecological and climatic conditions.
He said the agrarian economy in South Asia supports nearly 1.2 billion people and now time has arrived that all SAARC member states should take concrete and radical steps to enhance agricultural cooperation besides exchanging new technologies and germ plasma to ensure food security in the region. We need joint programmes and being the member of SAARC we should experiment each others' technologies and research findings in other ecologies to help develop food secure region," he remarked.
Shaharyar highlighted the importance of integrating various programmes of the member countries and a mechanism to solve problems, adding that this exercise was directly related to the food security of the region. He was of the view that if any country introduces some new technology or develops some new germ plasma, it must be experimented in other countries for the mutual benefit of all the countries. He further said it was time to create an exclusive seed bank for the preservation of spices with the cooperation of South Asian countries.
Also, there should be provisions for the exchange of planting materials among the SAARC countries and corpus fund for addressing the trade-related issues, he observed. He pitched for stable research and development work in agricultural sector through mutual cooperation besides raising investment in research to achieve food security in future. He thanked Suraj Vaidya for inviting him to a high profile conclave for representing Pak youths.
