Unisame calls for self-sufficiency in turbulent times

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has appealed trade leaders and politicians to motivate entrepreneurs to set up units in the prevailing situation and rebuild the nation by determination and drive, a statement said.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said Pakistanis need to learn from Iran when it was faced with sanctions, the country started manufacturing every item and today it is self-sufficient in most items.

Pakistan is blessed with good crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize, pulses, cotton, sunflower, olives, fruits and vegetables and also has cement along with an abundance of livestock and dairy products.

“It is unfortunate that we have been importing various items despite having our own resources,” he said.

Despite being in a position to improve its benchmark and make goods of international standards, it is beyond understanding that Pakistan is importing cheese, butter, biscuits, jam and jellies.

The trade leaders and politicians must motivate and encourage the people to grow more and add value to the country’s produce and set up agro-based industries and export more, Thaver remarked.

For him, the engineering industry can also resort to reverse engineering and make local machinery by copying imported machinery and equipment.

“Our people must learn to drink our own grown lemon grass tea and green tea instead of black tea. We can also grow black tea just like we are now growing olives successfully,” the Unisame president said.

An enormous amount of foreign exchange is spent in importing tea and edible oil which can be substantially reduced, while the country can also increase its production of edible oil from sunflower and other seeds.

Pakistan can also increase its production of pulses which are being imported from foreign countries. There is scope in increasing the production of peanuts, at the same time the country can add value and export peanut butter.

The Unisame Council urged for integrated efforts of the different ministries of science and technology, commerce, industry and agriculture to work on war-footing.

They assured full support of Unisame experts towards this cause and also urged the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) to join hands and reach out to the entrepreneurs and motivate them to set up units for self-sufficiency.