ISLAMABAD, July 9, 2009: The Prime Ministerial Committee on Agriculture (PMCA) met on Wednesday at the Economic Affairs Division and discussed budgetary allocations and ways to strengthen the Agriculture Policy Institute (API).

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Asad Umer, CEO of Engro Chemicals, in the absence of Minister of State for Finance & Economic Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar.

Senior government officials, private sector leaders and leading agriculture business research institutions in Pakistan attended the meeting which was the fourth since the committee was constituted. 

The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is the secretariat of the committee and has developed its structure, basing it on best practices used around the world.

CSF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), established to reposition Pakistan’s economy on a more global competitive footing. 

Chaudhry Asghar, chief of API gave a detailed presentation on the institute and pointed to its achievements while suggesting ways to make it a truly effective organization by providing MS and PhD Programs and opportunities as well as engaging international advisors and experts.

The committee agreed on having a strong and independent API that could provide policy help to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture while also pointing to the need for having an independent think tank apart from API. Governance, stakeholders’ inclusion and autonomy of the institute was emphasized and agreed upon.

Afaq Tiwana, CEO and Chairman of PARC Agrotech Company (PATCO) Ltd, spoke about marketing and processing infrastructure and highlighted the major findings and action points. The house decided that Rs 7 million will be spent on preparation of PC-I and agreed on the involvement of PMCA from developing PC-1 to its implementation stage. On the recommendation of PMCA Rs 37 billion was allocated in the budget for this marketing and storage project.

Dr. Zafar Altaf, Chairman Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) in his presentation on cooperatives said that three new sites for milk cooperatives had been selected where 1000 small farmers dairy cooperatives will be formed which would see a productivity increase of 25 percent.

He also made a presentation on organic certifications, the processes and standards that were required in this regard. He said that there was a need for having a Pakistani institute for certification where international standards were followed. The committee agreed that this institute would finally be run by the private sector.

USAID’s support for CSF is part of the $2.8 billion aid that the U.S. Government has provided to Pakistan since 2002 to improve economic growth, education, health, and governance and to reconstruct the earthquake-affected areas.