ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: Participants of a meeting on Sunday stressed the need for conducting more research in the agriculture sector to achieve self-sufficiency in agri products and improve the country’s economy.

The meeting held at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) was attended by the officials of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and leading agricultural scientists.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Mohammad Akram Sheikh, who presided over the meeting, said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was convinced that the PARC had the capacity to boost agricultural development.

He said Pakistan had no other option but to strengthen its agricultural research base to ensure food security, poverty alleviation and improve export to achieve prosperity of farming community. Mr Sheikh said Minfal and the PARC should focus on increasing growth of agricultural sector. He urged the scientists to evolve technologies that were cost-effective and accessible to growers. He suggested that the wheat target should go up to 25 million tons by 2010.

He said continuous efforts should be made for training of manpower.

Minfal Additional Secretary Mumtaz Ahmad highlighted various agricultural issues and constraints, and suggested solutions.

PARC Chairman Dr Badaruddin Soomro said Pakistani scientists were unique in the world and wanted to work independently for the prosperity of their country, but the PARC’s autonomy, which had received a setback, needed to be restored.

He said agriculture contributed 24 per cent to the GDP, and in return got 0.1 per cent budget for research out of the allocation made for agriculture sector.

He said the country would have to set goals to achieve sustainability in agriculture and to alleviate poverty. But these goals could not be achieved until incentives were given to scientists along with autonomy to plan and implement projects to meet national challenges.

Dr Soomro said the PARC was striving for dissemination of information to end users, but the system did not allow it to expand. He said extension services in the provinces were not working under the PARC, but the provincial governments. Realizing this fact, he said, the PARC had recently established seven technology transfer institutes in the provinces and Northern Areas. The council needed funding to strengthen these institutes to disseminate technologies at the grass-roots level.

He said the PARC was established on the pattern of the Indian Agriculture Research Council (IARC). The IARC chairman enjoyed the status of secretary to the government, because of the autonomous nature of the organization. In Pakistan, from 1981 to 1989, the PARC was given autonomy like the IARC, but later it was withdrawn.

Dr Soomro said the council had developed a Tea Garden over 300 acres at Shinkiari, Mansehra, NWFP, which was a great achievement of the scientists. Now it was the responsibility of the private sector to come forward and take the lead. The council had developed technology and identified the areas where tea could be grown and was encouraging the private sector in this regard, he added.

He said Pakistan earned a major share of its foreign exchange from agricultural exports. Since international markets for agricultural products were highly competitive, it was important that national products competed in quality and prices. This requires continuous research to improve product quality, he added.