PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra on Tuesday asked farmers to shift their focus from traditional ways to modern means of agriculture to increase production and exports.

He also said climatic changes were posing a gigantic threat to the entire world and therefore, the country would have to take necessary steps to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of the 7th Farmers Convention here at the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (Pard), Peshawar.

Governor inaugurates 7th Farmers Convention

According to a statement issued here, the convention will continue until April 28 with more than 150 farmers both men and women from all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Fata in attendance.

The governor said the farmers’ convention would help promote scientific farming in the country.

“New scientific research and application of modern technologies in agriculture sector are behind the success of developed economies,” he said.

The governor said the Pard was striving to create awareness among farmers of the modern agro-research and scientific techniques through better interaction among themselves and with agro-scientists and experts. He said the agricultural sector had 21 percent share in Pakistan’s GDP and that around 45 percent of the population benefited from the sector making it the epicentre of the country’s all socio-economic activities.

The governor however regretted that the country lagged behind in the per acre yield.

He said the federal government was ready to help farmers resolve their problems. Director general of the academy Nighat Mehroz said the institute had conducted 1,350 training courses and thus, training around 35,000 officers from provincial and federal services.

She said the Pard organised the annual farmers conventions to promote awareness among framers of modern agricultural techniques. On the occasion, farmers demanded water policy, crop insurance policy and interest-free microcredit for themselves.

They also asked both the provincial and federal governments to organise training programmes for small farmers at district levels to help them benefit from modern agricultural techniques.

The governor later planted a sapling on the premises and visited different stalls put up by the government and nongovernmental organisations.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2016