Chief Executive Officer Roots Pakistan- a grass root development action (www.rootspakistan.org) presents paper in the Regional Moot in Khatmadu,Nepal(26-27th August,2015)

Dr. Wajid Pirzada Chief Executive Director Roots Pakistan- a grass root development action (www.rootspakistan.org) and Executive Director SAFWCO Foundation (www.safwco.org, www.safwcofoundation.org) presented his paper  in the Regional Consultation on Conservation, Use and Exchange of Plant Genetic Resources for Food Security and  Natural Disasters &  Climate Change (CC) Resilience in South Asia,organised by SAWTEE(www.sawtee.org) Nepal in partnership with FNI(www.fni.no) Norway.
Dr. Pirzada in his presentation highlighted the  need for conservation  of biodiversity and Iintellectual Property Management (IPRs) for life forms  for just and equitable sharing of PGRs.For more details visit www.sawtee.org

Link to Pre-budget Seminar

http://www.rootspakistan.org/index.php/e-library/news-clipping/summary-of-presentation-on-agriculture-sector-by-dr-wajid-pirzada

Pre-Budget (2015-16) Seminar at Institute of Policy Studies Islamabad May 14, 2015 Summary of Presentation on Agriculture Sector by Dr. Wajid Pirzada CEO Roots Pakistan (www.rootspakistan.org )

While speaking as Guest speaker at Institute of Policy studies-IPS (http://www.ips.org.pk/) Islamabad in Pre-Budget seminar Dr.Pirzada Observed:

‘Agriculture   sector in Pakistan, like in most of the other developing countries in the region, has had   mixed performance over years   since creation of Pakistan. Public sector agricultural   policies primarily focused on self-sufficiency regime; and so called Green Revolutions era helped many national governments, including Pakistan, to meet this policy object at least in the short run.

Policy Deficit:

Given the shortcomings of Green Revolution model-, especially resulting over-mining due to input intensification of natural resource base, at first place sustainability of self-sufficiency paradigm is at stake. Further, the policy context has entirely changed and the self-sufficiency paradigm has become irrelevant in the context of multilateral trading regime pursuing freer trade.

Challenges:

The challenges posed by   growing number of more mouths to feed ,  growing urbanization, freer trade under multilateral trading system, climate change(CC) and unsustainable production & consumption; coupled with gradual realization of  paradigm shift from agriculture through industry to services, is bound  to impact  negatively on agricultural contribution to GDP, sectoral employment capacity  and agricultural profitability & food/nutrition security.

The estate sector expansion and debilitating land and water resources available for agriculture sector along with unsustainability of production can further compromise the development of agriculture on commercial scale.

Way-Forward:

 To help arrest this likely trend, Pakistan needs to come out of both self-sufficiency & primary commodity production paradigm. To this end, provincial governments after 18^th Constitutional Amendment in support from Federal Government have  to make serious and concerted efforts to develop value-added agriculture sector, by mainstreaming value-chain management across all subsectors of agriculture, strictly adhering to and complying with international standards regime e.g. GAP, food safety & environmental standards, and investing in farm research to augment per unit productivity through innovative agricultural technologies & production. Investing in green skills & cleaner agricultural technologies will help smoothen Pakistan’s agricultural development, on sustainable lines and in keeping with Green Economy requirements.

Alongside credit access, rural based agro-based industrial & services development will help arrest urbanization and generate additional employment opportunities for youth in rural Pakistan.

Finally targeted subsidies-to source inputs- fertilizer, electricity & water, for small & landless farmers; and compensatory policies like crop/livestock insurance needs to be introduced.

Recommendations:

i.                     Investment in value chain management: Duty free import of Equipment   e.g.   for Fruit/ Mango pulp production and chillers for dairy sector

ii.                   Investment in SPS quality infrastructure- border control of diseases, food safety & veterinary public health

iii.                  Establishment of Early Warning Systems for disasters & CC Mitigation- Famine/drought, flooding  and CC observatory in the country

iv.                 Institutionalization of compensatory policies such as crop/livestock insurance and targeted subsidies for resource poor farmers

v.                   Investment in innovative & problem solving research driven towards development goals’

While responding to the presentation made by fellow panelist Dr. Pirzada demanded  for provision of  social pension, if not universal at least means-tested’ for the elderly in Pakistan in the Finance Bill 2015-16.