Pakistan, US to develop agriculture in Afghanistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States have announced to work together to develop agriculture in Afghanistan.

The announcement came in a meeting held between US Administrator Foreign Agriculture Service, Michael Michener and Secretary Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Zia-ur-Rehman at the ministry on Wednesday, a statement said.

Michener said that Pakistan, America and Afghanistan can work jointly in developing regional market and infrastructure, controlling plant and animal diseases and provision of agricultural credit. They also agreed that regional cooperation is very vital for ensuring food security for the people of the region.

“Pakistan needs help and cooperation of America in developing the farm machinery industry and promoting mechanisation of agriculture,” said Zia-ur-Rehman. He said that the US has already signed equivalency framework agreement for export of mangoes to US and its scope needs to be expanded.

“US help is needed in research, human resource development, introducing high-yield, disease-resistant seed varieties and especially in areas of genomics, advanced biotechnology, climate change, bio-informatics, bio-safety and international trade,” he added.

The meeting also discussed the avenues of cooperation in capacity-building in bio-safety and bio-security and especially need for training personnel working in the field of animal sciences in bio safety techniques.

Facilities need to be developed to handle highly dangerous strains of microbes such as bird flu virus, SARS virus, Congo virus, anthrax bacteria etc with US cooperation in Pakistan, it said.

Michener assured that the United States will fully cooperate with Pakistan in modernising agriculture and turning it into a profitable and competitive sector. Other senior officials of the ministry were also present in the meeting, the statement concluded.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=175104