KARACHI: The corporate and financial sectors are investing to develop the agriculture sector. This view emerged at the launch of ‘The State of Pakistan’s Agriculture 2024’ report by Pakistan Business Council (PBC) and Pakistan Agricultural Coalition (PAC) in an event at National Foods Limited corporate head office here.
This report documents how corporate and financial players are bringing capital, technology, and expertise to the agriculture sector for growth and prosperity.
Ehsan Malik, CEO of PBC, in his opening remarks said that agriculture sector has the greatest potential to contribute to economic and food security and uplift the rural population. “This report highlights how the corporate sector is playing an impactful role in developing the agriculture sector,” he added.
Kazim Saeed, CEO of PAC, said the leading corporate player are working directly with farmers and these prospects merit replication and scaling up for the growth of Pakistan’s agriculture.
He said that many companies are adopting practices that reduce environmental impact, such as regenerative agriculture, eco-friendly production methods, and efficient resource use. The event features presentations by the companies whose projects have been documented as case studies in the report, he added.
Abrar Hasan, Global CEO National Foods Limited (NFL), applauded the efforts of PBC and PAC as well as other corporate sector players for driving the agri sector towards growth.
Talking about NFL’s case study, he said that National Foods is committed to self-sufficiency to increase exports as well as digitize farming in Pakistan, ultimately maintaining a robust value chain. “Our products and our partnerships are a testament to the positive impact of technology”, he added.
The “Seed to Table” initiative exemplifies commitment to growth beyond borders, expanding to international markets as well as enabling the national economy through exports. NFL’s intervention to develop the tomato value chain and create import substitution for tomato paste proved fruitful for the company and the country, he said.
“We can create potential for exports by developing the value chain for tomato paste, as tomatoes have a high export potential compared to other crops” said Abrar, adding that the NFL intervention presents a strong example of how to respond to the sharp depreciation of the rupee in recent years.
Adil Sattar from K&N’s said that over the last six decades, K&N’s has been at the forefront of poultry breeding, the introduction of new technologies in poultry farming, poultry processing, and new approaches in retailing of poultry-based consumer products for domestic and global markets while maintaining food safety and Halal certification by hand slaughtering rather than stunning despite the cost and effort involved.
Faraz Zafar, Investment Director AlKaram, talked about what will become Pakistan’s largest shrimp farm. AlKaram’s Dhabeji Aqua Foods is will be a shrimp farm on 400 acres, which will feature 300 half acre ponds in Sindh’s District Thatta. AlKaram has also invested in companies for cultivation and drone-based services. Faisal Iftikhar, CEO AquaHatch, cited the vision of Garibsons and Jaffer Group for investing in a fish seed and shrimp seed business to support the farmers of high-value fish and shrimp across Pakistan.
Taimur Malik of Drawdown Farm by Thal Industries highlighted the importance of regenerative agriculture for protecting Pakistan’s soils, water, and biodiversity.
Amer Aziz, CEO HBL Zarai Services spoke about how to harness the corporate sector to serve farmers and M Aminuddin, CEO TPL Insurance, talked about protecting livelihoods of farmers through crop insurance.
Copyright media, 2024
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