ISLAMABAD, April 20: The agricultural scientists should step forward and use their research to help bridge the gap between food supply and demand, Federal Agriculture and Food Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind said here on Tuesday.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of the second international workshop on agriculture linkage programme (LAP), organized at the National Agriculture Research Council.

The minister asked scientists to devise a new growth strategy based on value added research inputs. Recommending more importance to be given to agriculture, ahead of the manufacturing sector, he said 68 per cent of the country's population lived in rural areas and depended on agriculture to earn livelihood. In this way, the agriculture sector was also far ahead of the manufacturing sector, he added.

These reasons made it imperative for making greater investment in agriculture research, extension, education and irrigation. More step in these related fields will go a long way in revitalizing the agriculture sector which contributed 24 per cent to the total gross domestic production.

In this context, the minister praised LAP, conceived by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), as a dynamic step in inducing efficient research inputs by foreign and Pakistani scientists. This, he added, could pave way for improving agriculture production as well as poverty reduction.

Earlier, PARC chairman Badruddin Soomro welcomed the participants and explained the Agriculture Research Endowment Fund (AREF) his organization had set up out of Rs1.3 billion sale proceeds received from the grant of 200,000 metric tons of wheat supplied by the United States to Pakistan in 1999.

Now, as many as 219 projects relating to agriculture sciences, crop sciences, natural resources, plant diseases, and integrated pest control scientists were underway out of this fund from which a scientist, whose research thesis is accepted under AREF scheme, can receive up to Rs4 million, he said.

Speaking to this reporter, Dr Soomro linked improved agriculture research to the WTO, and said better research would bring improved quantity of yield and better food stuff which would enable farmers and orchard owners to make substantial export gains.

Giving one example of employing scientific methods in agriculture, he said three years ago, the banana plantation in Thatta was under grave threat, and the problem was dealt with at the PARC by tissue-application.

Agriculture ministry secretary Tariq Mahmood presided over the concluding session. Speaking on the occasion, he said the agriculture sector employed 50 per cent of the total work force of the country and improved production would be an answer to the economic well being of the Pakistani people.

He stressed the need for a well-planned and researched-based system that the PARC was putting into place to accomplish the task. He said the workshop would help enable them to approach other friendly countries and international agencies for collaborating in the linkage programme.