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Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that with the introduction of better mechanization tools and ICT-enabled extension services, agriculture sector in Pakistan will be revolutionized.
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“Olive cultivation and shrimp farming on commercial scale are need of the hour to ensure food security in the country. It will also help in improving exports”, he said while chairing a meeting on Agriculture Transformation Plan in the country, one of the Prime Minister’s Priority Sectors for economic turn-around. The Prime Minister reiterated that the launch of Kissan Card will facilitate farmers to buy machinery and agriculture inputs.
He directed the authorities concerned to establish centers of excellence in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for research in major crops like cotton, wheat and rice.
The Prime Minister also directed to set up calf-raising centers and introduce better artificial insemination techniques for the growth of livestock and the improvement of milk production in the country.
He directed all the provincial Chief Secretaries to take effective steps for the availability of urea by putting a check on its illegal transportation to neighboring countries, especially Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister was informed that administrative steps were being taken against individuals involved in creating artificial shortage of urea.
The meeting was attended by Industries Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Special Assistant to PM on Political Communication Dr Shehbaz Gill, Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Quddus Bizengo and senior officers concerned. Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar and Chief Minister KP Mahmood Khan joined the meeting via video link.
MoU on onion export, an important step to promote Pak-China bilateral trade
Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque has said signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) on export of onion from Pakistan to China was a very important step in promoting bilateral trade between the two countries. “This is very welcome development because Pakistan and China are very important trading partners and the MoU will help promote bilateral trade,” he told the media.
China and Pakistan have signed the Protocol of Inspection and Quarantine Requirements for the export of onions from Pakistan to China. With the agreement, Pakistani onion producers will gain access to the Chinese market. Ambassador Haque said Pakistan and China were very important trading partners and added, “In fact China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner.”
He said last year, the two countries launched the second phase of free trade agreement, under which we had deepen the access to our respective markets. “More than 1000 products are enjoying tariff free lines and onion is one of the products. So this agreement will help in the access of onion products, from Pakistan to China,” he added.
The ambassador said the MoU had helped in facilitation of requirements like quarantine and other requirements of Chinese authorities. “So it will facilitate the export of onion from Pakistan to China and we can see it as a very important step in promoting bilateral trade between our two countries.”
Responding to a question about improvement in onion production, he said after having facility of exporting onion to the largest market in the world, the producers in Pakistan would also take steps to improve the cultivation, techniques and standards in bid to increase the capacity and the production of onion to meet demand in China.
Ambassador Haque said China was a very strong agricultural country and the Pakistani authorities were already working with China under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework in the agricultural sector to improve the crop yields in Pakistan to have new seeds and new irrigation techniques. “I’m sure that with this cooperation, we could be able to improve the production of onion in Pakistan as well.”
According to a senior Chinese official, in recent years, China-Pakistan agriculture trade has been growing rapidly and despite Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, bilateral agriculture trade volume remained at a high level with an amount of USD 717 million.
This year from January to September, China-Pakistan Agriculture trade achieved a record of USD 860 million, of which export from Pakistan to China was USD 613 million and it would increase year on year.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the government is focused on enhancing per acre yield of crops by adopting better farming techniques. He said this while chairing a meeting on Khareef crops in the country. “We are investing in research and development to produce better quality inputs like seeds and fertilizers,” he added.
Earlier, the prime minister was told that cotton, rice, maize and sugarcane are the major Khareef crops being cultivated in the country. Because of the government’s agriculture-friendly policies, the growth trend is being witnessed in the per acre yield of all these major crops. The prime minister was also briefed that the agriculture sector in the country can be improved by investing heavily in good quality seeds and pesticides, credible research and development and technology transfer.
The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to take all possible measures to improve acreage and yield of all crops to ensure food security in the country. The meeting was attended by Minister for National Food Security Fakhar-e-Imam, Advisor on Finance Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Industries Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and senior officers. The provincial Agriculture ministers of Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan joined the meeting via video link.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said Pakistan and Norway have excellent relations and the Norwegians of Pakistani origin formed a strong bridge between the two countries. He observed this during a meeting with Ambassador of Norway, Per Albert Ilsaas, who called on him here.
Imran said there is potential for increased collaboration in political, economic and other areas of mutual interest. Referring to the Norwegian company Telenor, he said Pakistan-Norway economic relations are growing.
The ambassador of Norway extended greetings to Imran on behalf of the Norwegian prime minister. He felicitated the prime minister on successful holding of the 17th extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers. Imran extended an invitation to the Norwegian prime minister to undertake a visit to Pakistan at his earliest convenience.
Pakistani rice export to China has huge potential
Customs data showed that China imported RMB 1.95 billion worth of paddy and rice from Pakistan in the first 10 months of this year, 3.9 times that of the same period last year. Pakistan is the third largest rice supplier to China. In addition, Pakistan once became China's largest rice supplier in the first five months of this year. As China and Pakistan further advance agricultural cooperation, Pakistan's rice exports to China may increase.
As the world's leading rice exporters, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan compete and cooperate with each other. In the first three months of this year, Vietnam imported about 247,000 tons of rice from India. The reason behind is that as the prices of quality rice rise internationally, Vietnam exports more locallyproduced fragrant rice abroad. In order to ease domestic food pressure, Vietnam has no choice but to import cheaper broken rice from India, mainly for making rice flour, vermicelli, and livestock feed or brewing beer.
According to Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the proportion of quality rice seeds in Vietnam was less than 40% before 2015, but now it has reached 70%. Vietnam turns to export high-priced quality rice and value added products. Fragrant rice is more of a cash crop than staple food, produced to earn foreign exchange in Southeast Asian countries.
The same can be seen in India and Pakistan. As the two countries mainly grow basmati rice and broken rice, they have been playing a "zero sum game" in basmati rice export.
India used to be the largest exporter of basmati rice. However, due to the strict EU restrictions on tricyclazole and carbendazim, India lost quite a lot of basmati rice orders from European clients. Meanwhile, Pakistan has become the biggest beneficiary thanks to its organic farming of basmati rice. Faisal Jahangir Malik, senior vice president of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan, said that three years ago, India sold 400,000 tons of basmati rice in the European markets, while Pakistan's share was less than 40,000 tons. "From 2020 to 2021, Pakistan's rice exports to European countries have reached 470,000 tons, while India's share was less than 40,000 tons." It all thanks to Pakistan's traditional farming method. "Although Pakistan's farming methods are not modern, they are close to organic production, so the world has confidence in Pakistani rice."
For a long time, Pakistan has followed a formula for rice export - rice export equals output minus domestic consumption. Shamsul Islam Khan told CEN reporter that Pakistan has exported all it can offer. The only way to more exports is to increase rice yield.
Zhang Jiegen, an associate researcher
at the Center for Pakistan Studies at Fudan University, believes that China's rice market is open to Pakistan in a way that other countries do not enjoy. "China will provide as much quota as possible to Pakistan in order to promote the healthy development of China-Pakistan trade, but Pakistan’s production capacity can not keep up." He cited sugar exports as an example. In 2020, Pakistan provided subsidies to exporters to promote sugar export to China. However, this was followed by a spike in sugar prices as Pakistan's domestic sugar production capacity could not keep up.
China, Pakistan step up agricultural cooperation
A 14-day online training course on water-saving agriculture for Pakistan kicked off recently. The training course has been sponsored by Chinese Ministry of Commerce and organised by the international exchange centre of Yangling Demonstration Zone, Shaanxi province, China.
The 48 trainees are from Pakistani universities and institutions. At the training course, they will communicate and discuss the water-saving irrigation techniques and the development of trend of water-saving agriculture with Chinese experts from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, China.
Yangling has made active exploration in water-saving irrigation, integration of water and fertiliser and efficient use of water resource in recent years, and achieved remarkable results while accumulating a lot of experience, said Yangling Demonstration Zone senior official He Ling.
He hoped that China and Pakistan would share the experience and methods in water-saving agriculture, deepen the pragmatic cooperation and make more contributions to the development of China and Pakistan’s modern agriculture. “This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan,” said Shaanxi province Commerce Department Vice Director Sun Jinghu while attending the opening ceremony of the training.
“We hope this training will enhance the two nations’ exchanges and understanding and boost the extensive cooperation of scientific research institutions in modern agriculture.”
Pakistan needs to develop coherent national policy for horticulture development
Pakistan yet to take an appropriate pie from global cake at the account of horticulture exports, despite the fact that the global trade in horticulture had increased four times over two decades and stood at more than US$200 billion in 2019, said FPCCI Chairman Standing Committee on Horticulture Exports, Ahmad Jawad.
Talking to media, he said that since 1947, agriculture sector has received inconsistent attention. There have been times of great development however it can be argued that last two decades have been worse for the agriculture.
A research conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) revealed that the Total Factor Productivity, one of the most informative measures of agricultural productivity, has been negative over the past two decades. This shows that our growth is now reliant on inputs or increase in area under cultivation.
He said according to the Agriculture Census 2010, 78 percent of the farmers in Pakistan have land-holdings of less than 7.5 acres.
Wheat, cotton, maize, sugarcane and rice are the main crops grown by these farmers. These crops are labor intensive and mechanization plays a small role. This means that sowing of these traditional crops is of little competitive advantage for these subsistence farmers as compared to high value agriculture. Therefore, it is high time to capitalize on the opportunities offered by horticulture and it has to be given a central role in order to boost the agriculture growth.
As per a report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, rising living standards and burgeoning population will swell the demand for horticulture products by 70 percent over the next thirty years.
He said Pakistan retains only 1.5 percent share in world exports of citrus fruits and 2.8 percent share in world exports of potatoes; however through upgrading our production methods, seed varieties, processing infrastructure and produce quality, we could easily exported $2.2 billion worth of horticulture commodities in next two years.
Jawad further told that Egypt provides a good case study for Pakistan to learn by implementing a Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy since 2009, Egypt has focused on capturing export markets
for its horticulture commodities and currently exports about $3.2 billion worth of oranges, grapes, potatoes, strawberries and onions to the Russian Federation, European Union and the Middle East.
First ever ginger harvest in Pakistan agriculture inaugurated
Special Assistant to PM on Poverty Alleviation Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar has inaugurated the first ever ginger cultivation in Balkasar area of Chakwal. The harvest celebration was organized by Agrionics Farms. This was the first ginger harvest piloted in Pakistan. The crop was grown in eleven months.
Being an essential ingredient of Pakistani cuisine, ginger is high in demand, but unfortunately it is not grown here, and all the crop is imported to meet the domestic needs. At the event, participants learnt from experts about the sustainable production and management of ginger and how to properly harvest this crop. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sania said, “Ginger can emerge as a major crop and can be a game-changer for the farming community.
Agriculture is profoundly linked to poverty alleviation in Pakistan. Government, private sector, research institutions, innovators and farmers can work together to build synergies and develop agri-value chains. This will lead to greater impact for poverty alleviation, livelihoods creation, economic growth and foreign trade boosting.” Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Muhammad Najeebullah, Director Vegetable Research Institute, Faisalabad and other experts were also present on the occasion.
Participants were provided with information on how to successfully grow and harvest ginger in the country. Experts presented research-based information about the agricultural benefits of growing ginger locally.
After knowledge-sharing, all participants went to the field for the formal inauguration and demonstrations. Chairman PAC briefed Dr. Sania on the success of ginger cultivation project and its potential to boost Pakistan’s farming sector.
“This variety of ginger has been successfully grown and field tested and can yield up to approximately 8 to 10 tonnes per acre in this area” he said. Other experts shared that Pakistan is an agri economy field to progress as it should be but now it has started its journey towards self-sustainability. With help of drip irrigation, sprinklers and shading fabric, it was the first ginger farming project that turned out commercially successful.
Pakistan is now sugar surplus country
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin has said that various economic indicators clearly show that the country’s progress by all accounts was on rise. “Numbers never lie,” the adviser said while indicating towards progress in various sectors of economy including agriculture, manufacturing, exports and tax collection. He said, the country was now sugar surplus besides producing huge surplus in rice, maize and cotton. “Numbers never lie, our progress by all accounts is on the rise i.e. agriculture, manufacturing, exports and tax collection. We are now sugar surplus country. Also producing huge surplus in rice, maize and cotton,” the adviser tweeted.
Meanwhile, Spokesperson to Finance Minister, Muzammil Aslam said economy of the country was moving on right direction and deplored that media was misleading the masses. In a statement issued here, he said the inflation was rising all across the world for last four months.
Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, he said the prices of food and beverages increased by 3.9 percent in September and October whereas the prices of edible oil witnessed an increase of 9.6 percent.
The prices of dairy products were also increased by 2.6 percent, according to the report. He said after COVID-19, the whole world was facing hard times, adding that it was misleading to say that the difficult situation was faced only in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s economy was growing fast, he said, adding that in October Pakistan’s exports grew by 17.5 percent which was highest in the last eight years. For the first
time in Pakistan’s history, the export target would reach $30 billion this year. During July-October textile exports increased to $6 billion whereas tax revenues were increased by 37 percent.
In last four months, the government had collected Rs151 billion in income tax and cotton production was also increased by 81 percent. He said the industry had also grown by 12.25 percent and the economy would improve further in the coming days.
Maize-soybean strip intercropping to reduce Pakistan’s soybean import bill by 50% in next five years
Pakistan is aiming to reduce its soybean import bill by 50% in next five years by using intercropping technology, promoting soybean cultivation and improving its processing and value addition.
Soybean is considered the essential poultry feed ingredient, next to cereals within the field crop segment. However, local soybean production in Pakistan is much lower than the total national annual consumption.
“We can get out of this situation by enhancing our local soybean production using strip intercropping technology, which has globally proven to be the technique for enhancing crop production in the face of decreasing cultivation in a sustainable manner”, said Muhammad Ali Raza, post-doc of Sichuan Agricultural University (SAU) and Director of National Research Centre of Intercropping, Islamia University Bahawalpur.
He made these remarks at a soybean research and cultivation promotion and planning meeting. Strengthening soybean research, promoting soybean cultivation in Pakistan and improving soybean processing and value addition were discussed at the meeting.
Since 2018, successful maize-soybean strip intercropping technology trials have been continuously conducted in Sindh and Punjab. At the meeting, Dr. Muhammad Ali Raza, Dr. Zaheer Ahmad In-charge of soybean cell of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) and Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, Research Scientist at Directorate of Oilseeds, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute (AARI), presented their achievements on maize-soybean intercropping. Positive feedback was also given from agricultural enterprise CEOs and local progressive farmers in the meeting.
“In last autumn, from Aug. to Dec. 2021, I adopted this technology on 40 hectares of land. In the end of the season, I got 1.8 tons of soybean and 2.5 tons of maize per hectare,” President of Kissan Board Pakistan Ch. Shaukat Ali Chadhar, shared the promising data of the trial by him.
CEO of Hi Tech Group Dr. Muhammad Arshad, remarked that high protein content soybean seeds with good amino acid profiles are for good digestibility which can be cultivated through maize-soybean strip intercropping technology.
The intercropping technology can increase the protein content within soybean because high maize crops will give some shade to soybean crops which will be the reason for high accumulation of protein within soybean seeds, he explained.
The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob, IUB Vice Chancellor. IUB is ready to provide all the technical support required to the industry or farmer community. With this technology, we are aiming to reduce our country’s soybean import bill by 50% in next five years, he said.
Dr. Rana Tariq, CEO/MD of Shamim Feeds Pvt. Ltd., Tariq Tanveer, CEO of
Agri-Tourism Development Corporation of Pakistan, Dr. Khalid Mahmood Shouq, Editor in Chief of Veterinary News and Views, Ali Khurram Irfan Nomani, CEO of Akin Foods, Dr. Muhammad Aslam, CEO of Mumtaz Feeds, Rao Muhammad Ikhlaq, Muhammad Manzoor, and Naeem Iqbal, etc. also attended the meeting.
Pulse imports slow down as prices surge
Importers have substantially slowed down placing pulse orders as global prices have surged by $100 to $600 per tonne over the past two months, pushing up the wholesale rates in the local market.
Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association (KWGA) chairman Rauf Ibrahim said importers were reluctant to open letters of credit in view of the rising global prices, rupee’s massive devaluation and skyrocketing freight charges.
The impact of rising wholesale prices was also visible in retail rates of pulses all over the country. According to the Sensitive Price Indicator for the week ending Dec 9, masoor, gram pulse and mash rates went up by 2.32-3.29 per cent over the preceding week.
Masoor was selling at Rs170-230 per kg, moong at Rs115-230, mash at Rs200310 and gram pulse at Rs124-200 per kg.
The KWGA chairman said mash pulse rate in the global market had soared to $1,060 per tonne from $800 over the last two months, followed by black gram (to $700 from $600), masoor (to $965 from $600), medium sized white gram (to $1,000 from $550) and large sized white gram (to $1,400 from $850).
He said moong imports had been negligible due to local crop which started from July. However, the price of locally produced moong also rose to Rs4,600 per 40kg from Rs3,500.
He said the wholesale price of mash had gone up to Rs250 per kg from Rs190 in the last two months, while black gram price is now tagged at Rs160 compared to Rs130 per kg. Masoor rate rose to Rs195 per kg from Rs140, whereas the prices of medium and big sized white gram surged to Rs160 and Rs260 from Rs110 and Rs180.
Pakistan consumes 800,000 tonnes of whole black gram every year which is later processed into gram pulse (dal chana). Consumption of moong, mash and masoor stands at Rs200,000 tonnes each annually, while the demand for arhar pulse hovers around 25,000 tonnes.
Mr Ibrahim said imports from various countries made up 80pc of the overall demand for pulses, which arrived in the whole form and were later processed in mills located in Sindh and Punjab. White gram is not processed and consumed directly. After an upsurge, imports of pulses had been slowing down over the last few months, he said.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed that 86,033 tonnes of pulses were imported in October against 109,962 tonnes in September. Mr Ibrahim claimed that imports in November plunged to 38,000 tonnes, while arrivals from Dec 1 to 11 stood at just 11,800 tonnes.
When asked why imports in JulyOctober rose to 419,626 tonnes from 374,836 tonnes a year ago, he said this was because of previous orders as shipments had been taking at least three months to arrive due to logistics issues compared to 30 to 45 days a few months back.
He said there should be some mechanism as import permits should be issued to the traders as per the demand and supply situation of pulses in the country. Another option is that the government should get involved in importing pulses as per the country’s requirement or announce a subsidy on imports to control rates.
