ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Agriculture is not a matter of food security, but it has clearly established itself as an engine of economic growth, Dr Kauser Abdullah Malik, member Biosciences, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Norman Borlong lecture here at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), on the World Food Day, he said agriculture was never regarded as science and the people at the top had never recognized agriculture scientists.

He warned that during the next five years, the country needed to concentrate on developing resource conservation technology so that all available resources could be utilized judiciously in a sustainable manner.

Mr Malik said agriculture should be viewed as a business in which technology should be developed in a way to help minimize the cost of production, improve the quality and devise ways and means to overcome market fluctuation and to compete in the export market.

He said the share of agriculture in the country’s GDP was 25 per cent (Rs155 billion), more than that of mining/manufacturing and trade with 19 per cent (Rs120 billion) and 15.4 per cent (Rs97 billion), respectively.

Its contribution to the national economy could be gauged from the fact that 47 per cent of the employment was in the agriculture sector, while 60 per cent of the country’s exports earning were due to raw and processed products from agriculture sector.

Referring to the green revolution from 1955 to 1965, Mr Malik said it had also created problems like soil degradation and depletion of organic matter due to the intense agriculture activities, mismanagement of irrigation system that resulted in water logging and salinity, introduction of new pests and diseases, giving rise to excessive use of pesticides and herbicides.

He also deplored that 70 to 80 per cent of total pesticides were being consumed in cotton, which was evident from the fact that approximately 45,000 metric tons of pesticides had been used in 1997 and only 10 million bales of cotton were produced.