Shehbaz Sharif calls for increasing Pakistan's agricultural exports
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, at a meeting in Islamabad, stressed the need to strengthen coordination between federal and provincial authorities. According to him, this is necessary to increase agricultural productivity per hectare, introduce innovations, develop livestock farming, and expand agricultural exports.
As Dawn reports, the head of government instructed officials to take coordinated measures to expand Pakistani agricultural products' access to international markets and seek new sales markets. He also instructed commercial representatives at foreign diplomatic missions to more actively promote agricultural exports.
Sharif stressed that increasing the added value of agricultural products is important for boosting exports. He also instructed that an information campaign be conducted for farmers about a mobile application for crop monitoring.
Exports and markets
At the meeting, it was reported that Pakistan's agricultural exports amounted to $5.18 billion in the previous fiscal year. The main export goods included rice, fish products, halal meat, potatoes, sesame, tobacco, mangoes, and corn.
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Meeting participants proposed developing value chains to increase agricultural exports. China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Gulf countries were identified as important markets for Pakistani agricultural products.
Digital solutions
The meeting presented a proposal to create the Digital Farmers’ Diary-Agri Stack digital system. It envisages digitizing data on farmers and land plots, as well as information on soil and water testing.
In addition, it was proposed to develop the Pakistan-Good Agriculture Practices, or Pak-GAP, system to disseminate agricultural practices with better results. The meeting also discussed providing financial opportunities to exporters of agricultural products. The National Council on Agriculture and Food Security is planned to be made functional, while provincial chief ministers are to represent their regions on it.
