LAHORE, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Bosan on Monday said the establishment of Federal Food Safety Authority would be brought up to the National Assembly for enactment very soon.
In his address at Workshop on Advances in Agricultural Biotechnology and Regulatory Affairs at F .C College Lahore where he participated as Chief Guest, the minister said the establishment of Federal Food Safety Authority called NAPHIS would further facilitate development of all technologies related to food security.
The minister said it was now well understood that food security could not be achieved by only increasing agricultural productivity but it was affordability and accessibility that had to be ensured.
In addition, he added, certain nutrition component must have been taken care of if food security in its true sense had to be achieved.
Bosan also highlighted that the Zero Hunger program and other projects, such as Kissan Package, were efforts to ensure exports and availability of farm inputs at affordable prices to uplift the plight of small farmers who constituted nearly 80 percent of the farms and to ensure that their nutrition and educational requirements were met.
The minister further said sustainable agricultural productivity could not be achieved without the input of modern science and technology including biotechnology. However, he added, modern agriculture meant a lot more than what met the eye. It was based on latest knowledge grounded in research that introduced technologies with acceptability by the farmers, he said.
Talking about the Workshop on Advances in Agricultural Biotechnology and Regulatory Affairs, the minister said “Holding of such a workshop is an important step in forging collaborations and for learning from each other.”
