Ensuring Food Security Is Top Priority: PM Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that ensuring food security is the government’s  top priority, an action plan should be presented to improve the agricultural sector, increase production and modernize the sector.

He expressed these views while addressing a review meeting on Wednesday under his chairmanship on reforms in the agricultural sector, measures to increase agricultural production and address food security challenges.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Food Security Syed Fakhr Imam, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Special Assistant Dr Shahbaz Gul, Secretary National Food Security Omar Hameed Khan and concerned officers from Agriculture Department.

The meeting focused on food security challenges in the face of the growing population of the country, the current state of production of various agricultural commodities, progress on the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Emergency Program, increasing production of various commodities and modernizing the agricultural sector.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that ensuring food security was the top priority.

He said that action plans based on timelines should be presented for medium and long term projects to be formulated for the improvement of the agriculture sector, increase in production and modernization of the sector.

The Prime Minister directed to expedite the process of activating the National Food Security Dashboard in the Ministry of Food Security with the assistance of all provincial governments and concerned departments with reference to accurate, authoritative and reliable data on various commodity production estimates.

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The Prime Minister urged that coordination between all stakeholders including research institutes, universities and related institutions be further strengthened and an integrated system is set up in this regard.

The Prime Minister directed that special attention be paid to special economic zones for processing of agricultural commodities.

Regarding the need to increase the productivity of agricultural commodities and modernize the agricultural sector, the Prime Minister stressed the need to make use of the experience of friendly China and ensure full utilization of China’s expertise and cooperation.

The Prime Minister directed to reorganize the agro-ecological zones. The Prime Minister said that the commodities like olives, pulses, etc., whose needs are met through imports, should be attracted to the farmers and all necessary assistance should be provided to them in this regard.