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Islamabad : The two-day workshop entitled “National Dialogue on Biotechnology & Bio-Safety for Food & Feed Security in Pakistan and Capacity Building Workshop for Representatives of IBC Members & Media Practitioners” will be held in Islamabad during 17-18th, January, 2014.
Top biotechnologists from Pakistan and other countries are participating in this international event. This event is jointly organised by the Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (PABIC), PARC, Forman Christian College , Lahore, PAS, Crop life Pakistan and the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service US Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Speakers at the press conference that was organised to announce the event, said, Pakistan, being the 6th most populous country in the world, is faced with complex problems, including food insecurity and a large yield gap between the rich and poor resource poor farmers.
In addition, the demographic pressures due to fast growing population, urbanisation, as well as water and energy crises are the other major impediments in national development. By year 2050, Pakistan will have a population of 250 million. Despite the fact that Pakistan is among three Muslim countries, out of 57 nations, who have achieved commercialisation of biotech crops, food inflation is still among the highest in Pakistan.
Agriculture is backbone of national economy. Pakistan is among the largest producers of cotton, maize, rice, citrus, etc. However, the yield and quality of agriculture produce is not at par to the world standards.
Therefore, it is imperative to adopt science based agriculture at the national level in order to meet the constantly growing food, fiber and fodder demands in Pakistan. For the prompt application of agriculture biotechnology in the country, smooth functioning of the regulatory system at the national level, capable of carrying out science based and time bound evaluation, is absolutely essential.
It is also important that leading biotech scientists are made part of the regulatory structure. Pakistan had prepared its Biosafety Guidelines and Rules to ensure smooth development and application of biotechnology in agriculture. These regulations were incorporated in the Pakistan Environment Protection Act. However, after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, a review of the roles of Federal agencies in the implementation of these regulations is needed in order to allow reviews of the applications that have been submitted by public and private sectors research institutes and companies for approval.
It is heartening that the political leadership in Pakistan has realised the importance of the application of modern biotechnology as expressed in its manifesto to establish a Foundation for Biotechnology to meet the enduring threat of hunger, poverty and disease. In addition, the Ministry of Climate Change has drafted a Biosafety Act designed to address some of the outstanding issues. It is hoped that progress will be made to facilitate the commercialisation of different biotech crops developed by both public and private sectors.
The proposed workshop is an effort to initiate national dialogue and address these urgent issues in greater length. The deliberations of renowned biotechnologists from home and aboard in this international event will form the basis of recommendations which we plan to finalise through a broad-based consultative process among experts and submit to the Government of Pakistan for prompt but knowledge based implementation of agri biotech in Pakistan. The programme of the event also includes two capacity building workshops for the representatives of institutional biosafety committees as well as for the key media personnel
Workshop on National Dialogue on Biotechnology for Food Security
@Slav Defence
Pakistan moves to introduce flood-tolerant rice varieties
ISLAMABAD (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For the first time in years, Pakistani farmer Zulfiqar Ali cannot afford to sow winter wheat. Damage to his standing rice crop from heavy monsoon rains has left him penniless.
“My rice crop on 18 hectares was flattened by lashing rains in July,” said Ali, standing next to his paddy field in Sialkot district, some 190 km (120 miles) from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. “I have already landed in a debt trap, and my children have been hungry for many days.”
Although Pakistan produces enough rice to meet both its domestic and export needs, the country’s longer-term food security is at risk, as demand for the staple crop continues to grow and increasingly extreme weather threatens yields.
Experts say the solution lies in adopting flood-resilient and high-yielding rice varieties, but the government is doing too little to promote these, leaving farmers like Ali exposed to economic ruin.
Ali is now worried about how he will clear the loan of 240,000 Pakistani rupees (around $2,300) he borrowed from a moneylender earlier in the year to buy his rice seed.
Some 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) are brought under paddy in Sialkot every year in June or July. The crop is harvested in September and October, and the land is then prepared for planting wheat in November.
Farmers typically use earnings from selling their rice harvest to meet household expenditures, clear their debts and sow the next crop.
But 85 percent of rice fields in Sialkotwere hit by devastating rains and floods in 2013, according to Ibrahim Mughal, chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan, a national farmers’ association based in Lahore.
“Although Pakistan (has) managed to bring more area under rice, above-normal rains and subsequent riverine flooding in Punjab and Sindh – where over 70 percent of the country’s rice is produced – have dashed hopes for bumper rice production,” he said.
RICE FORECAST DOWNGRADED
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) downgraded its forecast for Pakistan’s rice production in its November 2013 Rice Market Monitorbecause of the past year’s torrential rains and flooding.
In the financial year 2013-14, the FAO expects Pakistan to produce around 8.7 million tonnes of paddy - 0.6 million tonnes less than the target of 9.3 million tonnes set by the federal government.
Rice is sown on 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land in Pakistan. More than 1.6 million hectares have been affected by rain and floods, according to officials in the Food Security and Research Ministry.
The FAO forecasts that Pakistan will have 2.9 million tonnes of rice available for export in 2014, 3 percent less than in 2013.
However, Raja Ali Khan Baloch, parliamentary secretary at the Food Security and Research Ministry, argues that the country has no shortage of rice.
“Despite the crop losses, adequate rice will still be available for achieving export targets and domestic consumption,” he said.
Nonetheless Baloch cautioned that the country would suffer on both fronts if extreme weather events continue and if flood-resilient varieties of rice are not introduced among farmers.
A particular concern is that demand for rice in Pakistan is growing along with the country’s population, currently 180 million.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, domestic rice consumption grew to 3 million tonnes in 2013 from 2.4 million tonnes in 2011, a 25 percent increase.
RISING PRICES
Commodity dealers say reports of flood-related damage to rice crops have hiked prices on the wholesale and retail markets.
“Last year we sold the finest quality of aromatic rice for 10,000 rupees ($94) per 100 kg. But now it sells for above 14,500 rupees ($136) per 100 kg,” said Sheraz Ahmad, a rice exporter and chief executive of MS Enterprises in Karachi.
“Any downward change in rice production means escalation in hunger and malnutrition,” warned Abid Suleri, a food security expert and executive director of the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
The possibility of a decline in production has wider economic consequences too. Pakistan exports rice to countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. After cotton, rice is the country’s biggest source of foreign exchange, accounting for over 40 percent and worth $2 billion annually, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Pervaiz Amir, an agricultural scientist and former member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Climate Change, said flood-resilient crop varieties are the way forward to avoid - or at least reduce - damage to crops that are critical to food security.
Sensitising farmers about the advantages of these varieties is important to increase demand for them, he said.
But Pakistan’s agricultural researchers have failed on this count, Agri Forum’s Mughal said.
“Farmers have been left with no option but to sow old rice varieties that are not flood-resistant and yield less than 485 kg rice per hectare, as compared to improved flood-resistant varieties sown in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Taiwan that yield 890 to 990 kg per hectare,” he said.
NEW RESEARCH PROJECT
Iftikhar Ahmad, chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, a government-supported agency, said inadequate state funding, bureaucratic bottlenecks and an absence of political will were responsible for the lack of research into flood-tolerant rice varieties.
“We have recently approached the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help Pakistan introduce flood-tolerant rice. Besides we are pushing the government to play its active part on this count to avoid food insecurity in the country and (losing the) export market to other countries,” Ahmad explained.
Senior officials at the Food Security and Research Ministry said the joint venture with IRRI, funded by a $1 milliongrant from the Asian Development Bank, began in August last year.
Under the project, led by the Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) in Lahore, IRRI is providing technical assistance to develop rice varieties that can survive floods, droughts and heat waves.
PARB head Mubarak Ali hopes that flood and drought-resistant varieties - which are now in an experimental phase - will be introduced to farmers by the end of this year.
Pakistan moves to introduce flood-tolerant rice varieties
Top biotechnologists from Pakistan and other countries are participating in this international event. This event is jointly organised by the Pakistan Biotechnology Information Center (PABIC), PARC, Forman Christian College , Lahore, PAS, Crop life Pakistan and the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service US Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Speakers at the press conference that was organised to announce the event, said, Pakistan, being the 6th most populous country in the world, is faced with complex problems, including food insecurity and a large yield gap between the rich and poor resource poor farmers.
In addition, the demographic pressures due to fast growing population, urbanisation, as well as water and energy crises are the other major impediments in national development. By year 2050, Pakistan will have a population of 250 million. Despite the fact that Pakistan is among three Muslim countries, out of 57 nations, who have achieved commercialisation of biotech crops, food inflation is still among the highest in Pakistan.
Agriculture is backbone of national economy. Pakistan is among the largest producers of cotton, maize, rice, citrus, etc. However, the yield and quality of agriculture produce is not at par to the world standards.
Therefore, it is imperative to adopt science based agriculture at the national level in order to meet the constantly growing food, fiber and fodder demands in Pakistan. For the prompt application of agriculture biotechnology in the country, smooth functioning of the regulatory system at the national level, capable of carrying out science based and time bound evaluation, is absolutely essential.
It is also important that leading biotech scientists are made part of the regulatory structure. Pakistan had prepared its Biosafety Guidelines and Rules to ensure smooth development and application of biotechnology in agriculture. These regulations were incorporated in the Pakistan Environment Protection Act. However, after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, a review of the roles of Federal agencies in the implementation of these regulations is needed in order to allow reviews of the applications that have been submitted by public and private sectors research institutes and companies for approval.
It is heartening that the political leadership in Pakistan has realised the importance of the application of modern biotechnology as expressed in its manifesto to establish a Foundation for Biotechnology to meet the enduring threat of hunger, poverty and disease. In addition, the Ministry of Climate Change has drafted a Biosafety Act designed to address some of the outstanding issues. It is hoped that progress will be made to facilitate the commercialisation of different biotech crops developed by both public and private sectors.
The proposed workshop is an effort to initiate national dialogue and address these urgent issues in greater length. The deliberations of renowned biotechnologists from home and aboard in this international event will form the basis of recommendations which we plan to finalise through a broad-based consultative process among experts and submit to the Government of Pakistan for prompt but knowledge based implementation of agri biotech in Pakistan. The programme of the event also includes two capacity building workshops for the representatives of institutional biosafety committees as well as for the key media personnel
Workshop on National Dialogue on Biotechnology for Food Security
@Slav Defence
Pakistan moves to introduce flood-tolerant rice varieties
ISLAMABAD (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For the first time in years, Pakistani farmer Zulfiqar Ali cannot afford to sow winter wheat. Damage to his standing rice crop from heavy monsoon rains has left him penniless.
“My rice crop on 18 hectares was flattened by lashing rains in July,” said Ali, standing next to his paddy field in Sialkot district, some 190 km (120 miles) from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. “I have already landed in a debt trap, and my children have been hungry for many days.”
Although Pakistan produces enough rice to meet both its domestic and export needs, the country’s longer-term food security is at risk, as demand for the staple crop continues to grow and increasingly extreme weather threatens yields.
Experts say the solution lies in adopting flood-resilient and high-yielding rice varieties, but the government is doing too little to promote these, leaving farmers like Ali exposed to economic ruin.
Ali is now worried about how he will clear the loan of 240,000 Pakistani rupees (around $2,300) he borrowed from a moneylender earlier in the year to buy his rice seed.
Some 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) are brought under paddy in Sialkot every year in June or July. The crop is harvested in September and October, and the land is then prepared for planting wheat in November.
Farmers typically use earnings from selling their rice harvest to meet household expenditures, clear their debts and sow the next crop.
But 85 percent of rice fields in Sialkotwere hit by devastating rains and floods in 2013, according to Ibrahim Mughal, chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan, a national farmers’ association based in Lahore.
“Although Pakistan (has) managed to bring more area under rice, above-normal rains and subsequent riverine flooding in Punjab and Sindh – where over 70 percent of the country’s rice is produced – have dashed hopes for bumper rice production,” he said.
RICE FORECAST DOWNGRADED
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) downgraded its forecast for Pakistan’s rice production in its November 2013 Rice Market Monitorbecause of the past year’s torrential rains and flooding.
In the financial year 2013-14, the FAO expects Pakistan to produce around 8.7 million tonnes of paddy - 0.6 million tonnes less than the target of 9.3 million tonnes set by the federal government.
Rice is sown on 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land in Pakistan. More than 1.6 million hectares have been affected by rain and floods, according to officials in the Food Security and Research Ministry.
The FAO forecasts that Pakistan will have 2.9 million tonnes of rice available for export in 2014, 3 percent less than in 2013.
However, Raja Ali Khan Baloch, parliamentary secretary at the Food Security and Research Ministry, argues that the country has no shortage of rice.
“Despite the crop losses, adequate rice will still be available for achieving export targets and domestic consumption,” he said.
Nonetheless Baloch cautioned that the country would suffer on both fronts if extreme weather events continue and if flood-resilient varieties of rice are not introduced among farmers.
A particular concern is that demand for rice in Pakistan is growing along with the country’s population, currently 180 million.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, domestic rice consumption grew to 3 million tonnes in 2013 from 2.4 million tonnes in 2011, a 25 percent increase.
RISING PRICES
Commodity dealers say reports of flood-related damage to rice crops have hiked prices on the wholesale and retail markets.
“Last year we sold the finest quality of aromatic rice for 10,000 rupees ($94) per 100 kg. But now it sells for above 14,500 rupees ($136) per 100 kg,” said Sheraz Ahmad, a rice exporter and chief executive of MS Enterprises in Karachi.
“Any downward change in rice production means escalation in hunger and malnutrition,” warned Abid Suleri, a food security expert and executive director of the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
The possibility of a decline in production has wider economic consequences too. Pakistan exports rice to countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. After cotton, rice is the country’s biggest source of foreign exchange, accounting for over 40 percent and worth $2 billion annually, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Pervaiz Amir, an agricultural scientist and former member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Climate Change, said flood-resilient crop varieties are the way forward to avoid - or at least reduce - damage to crops that are critical to food security.
Sensitising farmers about the advantages of these varieties is important to increase demand for them, he said.
But Pakistan’s agricultural researchers have failed on this count, Agri Forum’s Mughal said.
“Farmers have been left with no option but to sow old rice varieties that are not flood-resistant and yield less than 485 kg rice per hectare, as compared to improved flood-resistant varieties sown in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Taiwan that yield 890 to 990 kg per hectare,” he said.
NEW RESEARCH PROJECT
Iftikhar Ahmad, chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, a government-supported agency, said inadequate state funding, bureaucratic bottlenecks and an absence of political will were responsible for the lack of research into flood-tolerant rice varieties.
“We have recently approached the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help Pakistan introduce flood-tolerant rice. Besides we are pushing the government to play its active part on this count to avoid food insecurity in the country and (losing the) export market to other countries,” Ahmad explained.
Senior officials at the Food Security and Research Ministry said the joint venture with IRRI, funded by a $1 milliongrant from the Asian Development Bank, began in August last year.
Under the project, led by the Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) in Lahore, IRRI is providing technical assistance to develop rice varieties that can survive floods, droughts and heat waves.
PARB head Mubarak Ali hopes that flood and drought-resistant varieties - which are now in an experimental phase - will be introduced to farmers by the end of this year.
Pakistan moves to introduce flood-tolerant rice varieties
