Former Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque on Tuesday said that the adoption of developed nations’ uplift models sans innovative ideas as per locals needs would not address our problems.

Former Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of Pakistan Dr. Nadeem-ul-Haque on Tuesday said that the adoption of developed nations’ uplift models sans innovative ideas as per locals needs would not address our problems. He addressed a public lecture on Agriculture and Economic Growth at Iqbal Auditorium of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The public lecture was organized by the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture & Food Security; Institute of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Public Relations and Publications, UAF. The session was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. He said that every country was facing their own problems and researchers, policy makers and stakeholders devise the uplift strategy keeping its issues in view. The adoption of uplift models of other nations would not work until we work on locals needs and circumstances. He said that it was not a time to reinvent the wheels. We have to adopt global knowledge to fight locals’ problems . He said that development comes from the changes in the mindset of people as they become innovative and work hard to changes their lives. He said that 90 million of the people are under the age of 20 years in the country. If we provide them the good learning and health opportunities, the country would move towards the development and prosperity. Dispelling the concept that our majority is living in rural areas, he said the 70% was urban because despite concentration of population several areas lacked city functionality. He said that urbanization does not mean to establish big residential colonies but to make people well aware which lacks in Pakistan. He said that agriculture production as a share of GDP is about 21%. It is often stated that agricultural employment is 40%. Yet various surveys show that half or more could be non-farm employment. If that is correct than agricultural production employs about 20% of the labor force. He said that small units of farms were diminishing as the people are used to sell them in order to migrate the cities and go abroad. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that agriculture and rural development were interlinked. He said that agricultural development will help reduce the poverty from the country. He was of the view that the agricultural land was being converted into the residential colonies. Keeping in view, increase in per acre production was vital to ensure the food security. He said that it was the duty of the researchers to come up with the new ideas in order to face up to new challenges. Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) Chief of Party Dr Bashir Ahmad said that post-harvest losses, traditional way of farming, inefficient use of resources, lack of mechanization, and other issue were aggravating the issue of food insecurity in the country. He said that share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) is 21 percent