ISLAMABAD, April 24: The government considers development of agriculture sector as a top priority and researchers should work to develop agricultural growth rate to meet the ever increasing food requirements of the country.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Sikandar Hayat Bosan, at a two-day national workshop on “Pro-poor intervention strategies in irrigated agriculture,” organized by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) here on Thursday.

The agriculture economy of Pakistan is mainly supported by the Indus basin irrigation system and 16.9 million hectors (78 per cent) of the total 21.6-million-hector cultivated area is irrigated, he said.

The minister asked researchers to examine every aspect of pro-poor strategies for irrigated agriculture and expressed the hope that the programme would come out with concrete suggestions and detailed action plans for a wide-scale adoption of pro-poor strategies under the developmental context.

He said the IWMI was playing a significant role for alleviating poverty in irrigated areas. He congratulated them on the successful completion of the poverty project, which was carried out simultaneously in six countries.