Agricultural experts have called for reforming agricultural policies and its continued research-based analysis in line with modern trends to safeguard the interest of farming community especially small farmers and to ensure the food security in the country

The workshop was organized by Policy Chair, US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture Faisalabad here at NIFSAT Conference Hall. Addressing the workshop as keynote speaker Dr Asif Saeed Khan from National Institute of Education (NIE), New Zealand said that Pakistani agricultural sector needs to grow by 5% annually to alleviate poverty, unemployment and hunger in the country. He stressed the need to formulate a comprehensive water use policy as the country is facing per capita water availability issue which is already below the minimum benchmark of the world. He said injudicious use of water at domestic, industrial and farm level is hampering the progress as we are wasting precious water in floods, washing floors and vehicles and traditional way of irrigation rather than efficient water management. He urged to create a kind of policy between formal banking system and the market middleman to safeguard the interest of the farmers. He suggested the government to create a doable partnership with private sector in advisory and service delivery of the Agricultural Extension System. He said from 1960 to 2010 people with less than five acres of land have been increased from 4.9 million to 8.3 million and that bounded labour needs to be taken care by the government. He said owing to wheat flour crises in 2007-08, the government exceptionally raised the wheat support price from Rs. 620 to 940 that led to food inflation in the country. Presenting the example of India, he said that in contrast with Pakistan, the Indian government was ensuring the provision of all inputs at 35% less price to the farmers to keep the cost of production lower.He said advanced countries are protecting their agriculture and farmers by giving heavy subsidies on inputs and ensuring the purchase of produce. He urged the researchers to put their focus on inclusive rather than exclusive by bringing various people closer and closer. CAS Chief of Party Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad said as many as 60 percent of county population was facing the issue of the food insecurity. He said that the agriculture sector is the backbone of our economy and most of the population was depending upon the sector. He said that USPCAS-AFS is working in five dimensions including efficient governance and leadership, curricular reforms, high quality applied and policy research, internationally competitive multidisciplinary graduate training and the technical and financial sustainability. He said that the CAS was meant for building the cohesive scientific community and provide a suitable platform to enable cutting edge agricultural research with the help of five chairs including Climate Changes ; Agriculture Policies, Biotechnology; Outreach and Precision Agriculture. Head of the Agricultural Policy Chair Dr Muhammad Jamil Khan said that Agriculture sector is facing various challenges including low productivity, water scarcity, marketing, inefficient use of inputs, and climate change. He said a comprehensive long and short term agriculture policies are prerequisite to meet the challenges of food security. He urged the scientists, extension workers, government, farming community and other stakeholders to sit together in order to device a holistic solutions Dr Waseem Ahmad and .