ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has urged the government to help quality agri startups scale up as they are the engines of rural and agricultural development.

He further asked the government to create an enabling environment for private sector to lead the diffusion and transfer of agricultural technology and raise Pakistan’s agro-productivity and export competitiveness.

Youth-led innovative and potentially disruptive agricultural startups offer a promising pathway to transform conventional Pakistan’s sector into globally aligned competitive agriculture, he said during a meeting with founders and entrepreneurs who briefed a panel of the National Assembly on innovative agri businesses on Wednesday.

Members of the National Assembly Special Committee on Agricultural Products appreciated innovations brought about by agri startups and stressed that given the rapid expansion of country’s population constrained natural resources, tech-driven solutions could help address issues related to food security.

Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza urged the committee members and founders of agri startups to pay specific attention to the problems of smallholder farmers and women who continue to be constrained by significant barriers including fragmented landholdings, lack of access to credit, information and technology and exploited by middlemen.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2020