ISLAMABAD -: Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to pay more attention to the development of agriculture sector for improving the economy. Muhammad Ali Mirza, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that agriculture is the backbone of our economy, but due to lack of due attention, the sector has not been able to achieve per acre yield of wheat, rice, sugarcane and other crops up to international standards. He said Pakistan is among top ten producers of wheat with around 25 million ton output last year, but its per hectare yield is just around 2.6 ton as compared with China’s 4.7 ton and UK’s 7.7 ton.
Similarly, Pakistan’s per hectare yield in rice is just 3.1 ton while it is 6.5 ton for China, 4.2 ton for Bangladesh and 4.1 ton for Sri Lanka as per report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Muhammad Ali Mirza said that agriculture is vital to economic growth and development of Pakistan as it provides income to about 70 percent rural households, absorbs 45 percent of labor force, contributes more than 20 percent to GDP and supports the growth of many other sectors of the economy.