KARACHI: Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) Pres­ident Khalid Mehmood Kh­o­k­har has warned that Pakistan’s food security could be at stake if agricultural production is not boo­s­ted and its issues remain unaddressed.

Addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, he reg­r­etted that we’re importing low-quality wheat while having the potential to grow world’s best grain, adding that despite being an agrarian economy Paki­stan has to spend billions of dollars annually on food imports, including those of wheat, sugar and vegetables, to bridge local sho­r­t­fall.

In terms of agricultural success, he believes Paki­stan is way more underdeveloped than the rest of the world and it must adopt a productive model being used by China, Australia and other countries to come on a par with global farming standards.

The PKI president emph­asised that Pakistan must adopt modern agriculture technologies as was done by countries like India, Mala­ysia and Brazil to develop a sustainable source of food supplies.

“Poor are dying in que­ues to procure wheat flour at subsidised rates thanks to the negligence of the policymakers who never focus on ensuring food security to a rapidly growing population by giving due attention to the development of the agriculture sector,” he lamented.

He requested Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir to help the farmers bring more land under cultivation which would play a vital role in stabilising the food supply.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2023