Experts for reducing agri inputs cost of production

Experts on Friday said that Pakistan should take measures to reduce the cost of production of the agricultural inputs and farmers should grow those crops that have more export share, such as edible oil and pulses.They were addressing the 31st annual general meeting and conference organized by Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE). Dr Golam Rasul, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal, spoke on the serious food and water security issues that Pakistan is facing.Pakistan stands at 76th in Food Security Index andone-third of the population lacks safe drinking water. With rapidly increasing population, the demand is expected to increase by 50 percent for safe drinking water, 10 percent for energy and 2 percent for food.Dr Rasul suggested that Pakistan should reconsider the production of rice, sugarcane and other water-intensive crops in face of current water crisis. Dr. Iqrar A. Khan, VC Agriculture University, Faisalabad, said that the farmers should grow those crops that have more export share, such as edible oil and pulses.Patrick T Evans, FAO representative in Pakistan, stressed the need to adopt more efficient production techniques because international foodprices are showing declining trend and it is eroding competitiveness of Pakistan in international markets.Mubarak Ali, Member, Food Security, MPD&R, echoed the same concerns. He said that comparedto regional competitors, particularly India, our cost of production is much higher due to inefficiencies in use of fertilizers and water, resulting in lower average yield.Dr Rehana Siddiqui, Professor, PIDE, said that Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu damns are crucial for meeting future energy demands in Pakistan. She highlighted the fact that infrastructure quality of electricity supply is very bad in Pakistan relative toother countries of the SAARC region.Energy mix should be chosen very carefully, keeping in mind the issues of food security and environmental issues, she further added. The second day of the conference began with parallel technical sessions, in which twenty papers were presented on varied themes related to the development of Pakistan.According to a paper presented on infrastructure investment and institutional quality, improvement in institutional quality and investment on infrastructure improves living standards. According to the authors, however, along with investment on infrastructure, investment should be pro-education and pro-health.Another paper discussed the restructuring of WAPDA. The paper said that the corporatization was aimed at improving market competition, increasing deregulation and minimizing state intervention.The nature of corporatization of WAPDA was neoliberal and its purpose was to take loans from the World Bank to salvage the energy crisis, claimed the authors. However, due to various reasons, including institutional incapacities and corruption, the ambitious targets set forth in the corporatization have not been met.In a paper on social networks, the authors proposed that the role of public policy can be effective through minimizing segregation emanating from faith, income and ethnicity. The authors stressed that racial and ethnic prejudices can be eradicated through civic education in schools.In another interesting paper on economic diversification and inclusive growth, the authors said that diversification provides entrepreneurial and employment opportunities. They said that although Pakistan is diversifying, it is still heavily reliant on the textile sector.In a paper on spatial disparities in socioeconomicdevelopment in Pakistan, it was claimed that multidimensional inequality in the four provinces of Pakistan is higher than per-capita income inequality.News SourceNews Collated byPAKISSAN.comCourtesy The Nation