Pakistan is rich in agriculture, which makes this country the 4th
largest milk producer, 5th largest producer of mango and 3rd largest
producer of dates, and the country also has 3rd largest livestock in the
world.
By developing these areas and other related fields into a
competitive and sustainable agribusiness sector, more employment
opportunities could be generated which would help alleviate poverty in
the country, said Karachi University Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) Pirzada
Qasim Raza, while addressing a seminar on “Agribusiness the key to
future” organised by the department of agriculture and agribusiness
management, here on Saturday. He said that Pakistan had great potential
in agribusiness.
“The country has a domestic market of 160 million people, a large
untapped potential with great possibility of high-value addition and
there is a growing global and domestic market for our products,” he
said.
The seminar focused on major challenges and opportunities now facing
the agribusiness sector and food based organisations and their
implications for the society.
The pro vice chancellor of the university, Prof (Dr) Shahana Urooj
Kazmi stressed the need for upgrading laboratory services for fisheries,
grains, animal products, seeds and nurseries.
“The fisheries sector is the source of livelihood for more than
400,000 fishermen in the country,” she said, adding that the fisheries
had great potential for exports.
“Although Pakistan`s agriculture sector has declined, it still has a
25 per cent share in the country`s gross domestic product (GDP) and
employs 44 per cent of the workforce and is the main source of foreign
exchange earnings,” she said.
“Over the last decade the growth in the agricultural sector has been an average annual growth rate of 4.4 per cent.”
She appreciated the efforts of Prof (Dr) Saleem Shehzah, the
chairperson of the department of agriculture and agribusiness
management, for organising the seminar.
She said that the seminar showcased examples of forward-thinking
strategies from organisations and experts in the field which would help
students to shape up their careers and future plans.
Highlighting the objectives of the seminar, Prof (Dr) Saleem Shehzad
said that the agribusiness industry faced great challenges.
“The growing population of the world which is expected to reach 9
billion by 2050, migration towards urban living centres and more
resource-intensive diets in developing countries, climate-change that
increases volatility in production and agriculture, escalating demand
for bio-fuels, and growing concern for the sustainability of
high-intensity production models are the few challenges for agribusiness
industry.”
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