STAFF REPORT IBD: Pakistan is set to achieve food safety in near future as the central government has for the first time formulated the Food Quality and Safety Bill to ensure food safety and maintain international standards of country’s products.
“Food security is not local or regional issue but an international one, therefore, it is the international responsibility to join hands to address this issue,” said speakers while addressing the Pak-Brazil seminar on food securityand poverty alleviation here last week.
The seminar has been organized by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and Brazil Embassy in Islamabad in collaboration with Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), WFP, FAO and SDPI.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador of Brazil to Pakistan, Alfredo Leoni, informed the participants about the successful programme of Zero Hunger and Poverty Alleviation 2003 of Brazil that helped about 30 million people come out of extreme poverty during last decade.
He said that the Brazilian experts visiting Pakistan would share their experience with the Pakistani agriculture and other experts to help them successfully implement the Zero Hunger programme of the country that was launched in March 2012.
Secretary Ministry of Food Security and Research, Ahmed Bux Lehri urged the provincial experts to interact with international agriculture scientists and learn from their experience.
He said that agriculture contribute 60% share in exports and has beensharing 21% in GDP and has been major supplier of raw materials to the industry.
Agriculture scientists and world renowned experts termed the food security as a global issue that could be overcome by multilateral cooperation aimed at streamlining distribution system and market mechanism to ensure easy accessibility to food to the people.