ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would need to increase agriculture production from its existing land resources but with lesser water to feed its additional 20 million people by 2050, said Jocelyn G. Brown, a senior official of the US department of agriculture, on Thursday.

Ms Brown, the department’s deputy administrator of foreign agricultural service, was speaking at inauguration of the National Bio-Control Laboratory at the National Agriculture Research Centre.

She seemed to be convinced that the government and people of Pakistan fully understood the challenges vis-a-vis feeding the growing population of the country.

“We need the highest level of commitment from our governments and partners to further enhance agricultural production to feed the nine billion people in the world by 2050,” she said. “Our two governments value the agriculture sector for food security,” added Ms Brown, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer at the University of Agriculture in Peshawar from 1988 to 1990.

The US official said “our joint effort to improve agriculture productivity has taken on a new urgency. Changing climates in both the United States and Pakistan are threatening the production of staple crops... Rain is hitting Pakistan earlier and in the US weather is much more severe than before”.

Over the last five years, she said, the Centre for Agriculture and Bio-Science International had collaborated with Pakistani scientists to support projects in the areas of animal disease, crop estimation, water management and capacity.

About the national bio-control laboratory, Ms Brown said the work undertaken there would help farmers control harmful insect attacks on sugar and other crops, reduce the use of dangerous chemicals, and ensure safer food supplies in Pakistan and the world.

She said “our governments and institutions can work together to introduce new technologies and research. The United States and Pakistan share the goal of supporting farmers across Pakistan and the globe to ensure that we have safe and nutritious food in adequate amounts especially for those people who have little income and who are most under-served people in the world”.

About the capability of Pakistani scientists, she said: “I think Pakistan can bring knowledge to other parts of the world including the United States and helpful to all agricultural systems.”

Dr Babar Bajwa and Dr Nadeem Amjad also spoke on the occasion and thanked the US government for its assistance for setting up the laboratory.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2016