FAISALABAD: There is a dire need for agricultural scientists and experts to formulate a comprehensivestrategy to enhance the production of major crops and reduce imports of essential items.These views were expressed by experts while addressing the participants of a workshopon Agriculture Sector: SWOT Analysis organized by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF).The workshop was chaired by Vice Chancellor Sindh Agriculture University TandojamProf Dr Fateh Muhammad Marri, while UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan,Agricultural University Multan Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Asif Ali, Islamia University BahawalpurVice Chancellor Prof Dr Athar Mehboob, Cholistan Veterinary University Prof Dr MuhammadSajjad, DG Extension Punjab Anjum Ali Butter and UVAS Lahore Vice Chancellor Dr NasimAhmad also addressed the gathering.Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Marri said that poverty alleviation was directly linked to agriculture sector.He said, if the agriculture sector contribution to GDP grows by 6 percent every year, it would reducepoverty by 50 percent. He said that loans to small farmers, and ensuring agricultural inputs to thesmall farmers would help combat low productivity. He said that it was imperative to persuade theprivate sector to invest in agriculture. He urged the extension workers to go to the villages andmake every effort for farmers to get aware of the agricultural recommendations and technologies.He said that more than half of the population of Pakistan was suffering from malnutrition.Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that agriculture was facing challenges like low productivity, climatechange, post-harvest losses, rural development, water scarcity, and uncertified seeds etc. He saidthat increase in productivity and value addition were essential to make agriculture attractive andprofitable.He said that more than 40 percent of crops were wasted in the post-harvest process, adding thatPakistan was one of the countries which was suffering water scarcity challenges. A campaignshould be launched to ensure the rational usage of water, he said and added that chemicallycontaminated water of the industry was polluting the groundwater. He said a house plan in Australiadoes not approve unless it was fitted with a rainwater storage tank.”Despite huge potential, we have limited agriculture to only five crops, however, in order to makeagriculture profitable, high value crops should be promoted” he said. He was of the view that climatechanges had started playing havoc with the agriculture sector, resulting in low productivity andbreaking out of new diseases for which new varieties would have to be introduced.He said that Okara was having good production of potato, adding that same model of other cropscould be formulated in other districts.Prof Dr Asif Ali said the goal of poverty alleviation could not be achieved without ensuring ruraldevelopment. He said the provision of best seeds to farmers would not only increase the productivityof the country but also make farmers economically prosperous. He said that India was far ahead inthe production of cheese and it was used as an everyday food but “we are still lagging behind in thepreparation of cheese”.He said that efforts should be made to curb the irrational use of water. He said that there was a bigdifference between the agricultural productivity of the progressive and traditional farmer for whichthe journey of development could be ensured by equipping the traditional farmer with modern trends.Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sajjad Khan said, “We have to work to increase the productivity of livestockinstead of the number of animals so that economic condition of the farmer could be improved. He saidthe majority of population of Pakistan was engaged in agriculture. He emphasized on value additionin agriculture.Dr. Anjum Bhutter said the Punjab government was using all its resources to resolve the problemsof farmers for agricultural development.