HYDERABAD, March 26: The director general, Agriculture Extension and Research, Sindh, Mohammad Akram Malik, has said there is a need to develop crops which need less water and give high yield.

He said this would improve productivity and meet challenges of the WTO regime, which would have to be implemented by January 2005.

He was speaking at a seminar on “Agriculture under the WTO and its implications on the agriculture of Pakistan”, organized by the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with the Agriculture Extension Wing, Sindh, at the Shahbaz Hall here on Tuesday.

Mr Malik said the development of the agriculture sector was essential to meet the challenges of the future, adding research scholars, scientists and others connected with the agriculture sector should work for the development of the sector as it was the backbone of the country’s economy.

He stressed the need for diversifying crop cultivation and recommended growers should cultivate demand-oriented varieties. This would provide growers an easy access not only to local markets but also international markets, he added.

Highlighting the importance of the district government’s cooperation in the development of the agriculture sector, he said under the devolution plan, the district government was responsible to develop infrastructure.

Earlier, Dr Qureshi, agriculture economist, social sciences division, PARC, gave a briefing about the inclusion of the agriculture sector in the WTO and its impact on Pakistan’s agriculture.

He said the agriculture sector was included in the WTO as most of the countries were heavily subsidising their agriculture produce for export purposes.

He said this measure was not only destabilizing the price structure in open markets but was also having a negative effect on developing as well as under-developed countries.

Dr Qureshi said the WTO would provide greater access to member countries as it would become obligatory for developed countries to reduce their tariff by 24 per cent on the average.

Responding to a question, he said modalities with regard to the agriculture sector had not been finalized. The modalities would be finalized soon, he hoped.