ISLAMABAD, March 26: The agriculture universities should increase their research activities on World Trade Organization (WTO) issues.

This was stated by Dr Fouzia Saeed, country director of ActionAid, while speaking at the opening session of a two-day workshop on ‘WTO challenges and the role of agriculture universities’ here on Wednesday.

She said: “There is a dire need for all the stakeholders to come on one platform as the consequences of WTO agreement are very formidable for the farmers and agriculture sector of Pakistan.”

Vice-chancellors, deans and chairmen of all the agriculture universities are participating in the workshop.

Dr Fouzia said these institutions would enable the nation to fight for its food sovereignty in the processes of WTO.

The main objective of the workshop is to discuss the potential roles of different departments to safeguard the future of Pakistan’s agriculture sector under different agreements of WTO.

She also emphasized that WTO-related issues should be included in the curriculum of the agriculture universities in order to provide awareness to the students.

The Agriculture University, Peshawar, vice-chancellor, Dr Syed Iqbal Shah, said the WTO issues were a challenge.

“The universities need more research programmes,” he added.

Dr Khalid Mehmood Khan, vice-chancellor of Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, said the implementation of WTO agreements were inevitable and a road map and action plan should be devised for future that needed joint efforts of government, parliamentarians, academicians, civil society and farmers.

Aftab Alam Khan gave a presentation on ‘agreement on agriculture’ and also discussed the current negotiations at WTO Secretariat in Geneva.

“It is an established fact that agriculture, the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, is facing a number of issues ranging from grassroots to international levels.

“The WTO regime is one of the most critical challenges faced by Pakistan and other developing countries”.