STAFF REPORT ISB: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations will provide Pakistan with technical support to enhance agricultural productivity and food security.
FAO Representative Patrick T. Evans said during presenting his credentials to Sartaj Aziz, Advisor for National Security and Foreign Affairs, at the Foreign Office.
While discussing the urgent needs of the agriculture sector in Pakistan, they agreed on the need to improve collaboration to enable local farmers to learn better agriculture techniques and improve their living standards.
FAO has been active in Pakistan since 1947 and has helped Pakistan over the years to strengthen agriculture, livestock and fisheries production in the country. The need to increase the contribution of the Pakistani agriculture sector to GDP with value addition and expansion of exports was discussed. In recent decades, FAO has trained thousands of farmers to increase on-farm productivity.
Sartaj Aziz advised the FAO Representative to work with government counterparts to improve the policy environment and referred to documents that he developed in the area of Food Security and Agricultural Development in Pakistan.
Patrick T. Evanshas has recently arrived in Pakistan as the new FAO Representative. Before coming to Pakistan, Patrick served in Sri Lanka for 5 years as the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives.