Speakers at a roundtable workshop have called for adopting the farming cooperative society model in order to address the problems of the smalls farmers by ensuring soft loans, inputs and machinery under one roof for them and to get rid from the exploitation of middle men.

University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan chaired the stakeholders consultative workshop on Agriculture Sector in 2030 – Challenges and options for the extension and outreach services” arranged by US Pakistan Center for the Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security UA

Addressing on the occasion, Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the cooperative farming system is the best answer to small uneconomic holdings and will change the pattern of agriculture. He said that only in the case of wheat, progressive farmers were getting 80 mounds per acre against the average per acre production of 28 mounds. The is a big gap between potential yield and the production of the small farmers, he said, adding that the small farmers were unable to reap the benefit of the modern machinery, inputs and other tools due to financial constraints. He said developed countries were using the system of cooperative farming, resulting in increasing the productivity manifold. He also showed his concern that 80 percent of the groundwater was not fit for the agriculture sector.

Earlier, CAS Director Dr Bahsir Ahmad said that 90 percent of the farming community in Pakistan consists of smalls farmers and they are unable to afford the machinery and other tools. He said that establishment of the cooperative farming will pave the way of the agriculture development and to redress the grievances of small farmers. He said that only 0.3 percent of the gross domestic product in Pakistan was being spent on research. Whereas, India is spending the 5 percent. Rana Iftikar Muhammad from Anjuman-e-Kashatkaran Punjab said that they are kicking off cooperative farming model as the pilot project in the 30 villages of the province . He said that they are planning spreading this model in 5000 villages of the province. CAS Outreach Chair Head Dr Baber Shahbaz said that usage of the Information and Communication Technology was the need of the hour to spread the message among the farming community. He said that the 60 percent of people are facing the food insecuiryt in the country. He viewed that urbanization, high population, decreasing agricultural land are aggravating the issue.

CAS Policy Chair Head Dr Muhammad Jamil said that Pakistan was standing among the bottom in the index of food security with 76 position out of 107 countries. CAS Precision Agriculture Chair Head Dr Jahanzeb Chema stresses upon the need to promote the precision agriculture that will increase the agricultural productivity manifold. CAS Dr Bushara Sadia Bio Technology Head said that the small farmers were far lagging behind in the adoption of the modern agricultural technologies. CAS Climate Changes Prof Dr Ashfaq Ahmad Chttha said that climate changes can reduces the agricultural productivity ten percent in the coming decades.