ISLAMABAD: The National Dialogue on Agriculture, a flagship initiative of the Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser, concluded on Thursday with a declaration and a new resolve to uplift the country’s agro-economy.

Qaiser said an effective legislation would be made to preserve agricultural land in the country. In this regard, a Memorandum of Unders­tanding (MoU) would be signed between the Parliamentary and Provi­ncial Assemblies Food Committees for increased contact, he said while addressing the concluding session.

The declaration called for mobilising investment in research, national efforts to reclaim the soil health and promote sustainable management of natural resources. It was also decided to mainstream youth and gender priorities in agriculture policy planning.

The dialogue urged the need to revamp Pakistan’s agriculture credit system so as to address the hurdles that prevent small farmers from accessing timely and cheap credit. On matters of enhancing agricultural export, it was decided to control the degeneration of seed and improve compliance with the international standards.

Participating in the day-long deliberations to identify constraints and obstacles which continue to impede progress in realising Pakistan’s full agricultural potential, key members of the National Assembly expressed their resolve to play a highly assertive role on mainstreaming agriculture in the national policy planning and budgeting.

President Arif Alvi, who was chief guest at the national dialogue, emphasised the need to build new synergises, mobilisation of investment in agriculture research and enabling environment for the private sector to drive the agriculture transformation agenda.

National and international experts debated topics like reorienting Pakistan’s agricultural research, extension and technology transfer, frameworks, farmers’ access to credit, input for higher yields, pathways for enhancing agriculture export, engaging women and youth in agriculture, integrated natural resource management, high-value agricultural products and value addition for a resilient agriculture sector.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2020