June 04, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

FAISALABAD, June 3: Promising global marketing developments are exploring novel opportunities for trade and investment in value-added farm products, says an academic.

Speaking at an event organised by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad’s Business Management Sciences and MBA departments on Tuesday, UAF Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad said the agriculture sector, which was contributing 60 per cent of the industrial production and employing more than 45 per cent of the country’s population, had remarkable prospective. He stressed a new mechanism for agricultural marketing, storage, transport, processing and market intelligence.

Dr Ahmad said welfare of producers and consumers should be ensured by implementing the World Trade Organisation’s quality, environment and labour laws. He said Pakistan needed to invest more in research to enhance productivity and welfare of farmers. He said efforts were needed to curb the sale of spurious seeds, pesticides and fertilisers. He said although the innovation in telecom, information technology, construction and banking had drawn the attention of the young generation, agriculture had to be focused because of its importance for the country.