LAHORE:Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) Vice President Jahan Ara Wattoo said on Tuesday that Pakistan needs around five percent consistent annual growth in the agriculture sector to feed the growing population.
In a media statement issued here, she suggested a two-prong approach i.e. vertical growth by increasing per acre yield of crops and horizontal growth by bringing more area under cultivation through corporate farming to overcome the challenge of achieving national food security and economic prosperity. Jahan Ara said Pakistan has the potential to bring around 22 million acres under cultivation by combining both vertical and horizontal approaches. Currently, she mentioned, the country’s per acre yield is far less than the global average due to limited access of farmers to modern machinery and digital support services.
In this regard PBF has a strong view that Artificial Intelligence (AI), can revolutionize and revitalize the agriculture sector, especially horticulture, while addressing the challenges of c
limate change, adapting modern crop patterns, attracting talent and envisioning a positive impact on this sector. She called for executing AI promptly as the most significant step in the agriculture sector which needs to be incorporated in the Green Pakistan Initiative.
The PBF Vice President said, ‘Policy makers spend most of their time in meetings, discussions, and visualizations, thus delaying the execution of pragmatic approaches which are not suitable for agriculture.’
Jahan Ara said that both developed and developing countries are moving towards the digital revolution, recognizing data as today’s equivalent of gold. AI can help analyse historical data, weather trends, and storage conditions to predict optimal harvest times and storage durations for crops. The AI-controlled storage facilities can be fine-tuned to maintain ideal humidity and temperature levels, significantly extending the freshness and shelf life of fruits and vegetables (F and V), resulting in an improved return on investments (ROI) fo
r farmers with minimal resource use.
PBF Lahore President Momin Ali Malik said, “We must understand Pakistan’s economy cannot reach the desired level of seven to eight percent GDP growth unless its agriculture sector grows at more than four percent. Instead of viewing the agriculture sector as simply a provider of food for the poor, the authorities concerned must see it as an engine of economic growth for the next few decades. But this can only be achieved if we are able to shatter and overcome some of the most common and ill-advised perceptions about the sector.’
Malik added that agriculture is also widely linked to other sectors of economy because when agriculture grows, the transport, industry and other related sector also grow.