Islamabad, March 31st, 2009: The Prime Ministerial Committee on Agriculture held its second meeting today at the Economic Affairs Division and discussed a number of cross-cutting agriculture policy issues and made recommendations on the future course of action.

The meeting was chaired by State Minister for Finance & Economic Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar. The first meeting of the Committee was held two weeks ago during which four Sub-committees were established for Research, Infrastructure, Marketing & Processing and Exports. The Marketing & Processing and Infrastructure Committees would coordinate closely with each as the two are interlinked.

Opening the meeting, Ms. Khar said: 'Agriculture is of critical importance to Pakistan's economy, both for food security and exports.' The State Minister said that cooperation between academia, public and private sectors - the so-called triple helix model introduced to Pakistan by the Competitiveness Support Fund - was essential for growth in agricultural GDP. Mr. Arthur Bayhan, CEO of CSF, was also present at the meeting.

Making a presentation to the Committee, the Ministry of Food & Agriculture (MINFA) emphasized the need for a combination of policy changes and operational interventions. In particular legislation related to the Seed Act and the Plant Breeder's Rights Act were necessary.

Cotton was Pakistan's most important agricultural raw material for the textile industry and steps were being taken to introduce Bt Cotton varieties. Wheat represented the bedrock of food security. However, speaking for the Ministry, the Secretary of MINFA said, 'Seeds, horticulture and agribusiness are all necessary for production'; he said that that farmers needed more market information and there was a need for policy research.

The MINFA presentation was followed by a presentation from the Infrastructure and Marketing Sub-Committee made by Mr. Afaq Tiwana, CEO of PATCO (a company established by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council) and Agrimall, a private sector agricultural development firm.

Mr. Tiwana said, 'The 'hub and spoke' model of developing agricultural service and support centres similar to Agrimall will make a huge impact on the ability of small farmers to receive quality inputs and sell their outputs'. He recommended interventions in storage and overall management along the value chain. The presentation also covered cold chains and controlled atmosphere stores.

Presentations were also made on the situation of agricultural credit and finance by the State Bank of Pakistan and on Pakistan's agricultural exports by Mr. Mansoor Saeed of Metro representing the Exports Sub-Committee. With regard to credit, the SPB indicated that this year to date 130 PKR billion was made available to agriculture, much of it to small holders.

For exports, the Committee heard from Metro that the private sector was committed to Pakistan's development in agriculture and quality food products. Mr. Saeed said, 'Good opportunities exist in non-traditional markets such as Russia and Eastern Europe and the big multi-nationals such as Metro stand ready to buy'. Organic food exports will also help Pakistan's foreign exchange earnings.

The Committee will meet again shortly to consider the specific issues raised by members and to devise projects to tackle the challenges identified.

The Agriculture Committee was formed in 2008 by the Prime Minister to remove impediments and bottlenecks in agriculture and facilitate growth. The Committee is geared towards removing bottlenecks and introducing policies that will lead the sector in the right direction. It will also include the findings of the Task Force on Food Security recently completed by the Planning Commission.

The structure of the committee, developed by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), is based on the best practice used around the world which includes the triple-helix approach to competitiveness, economic development and growth comprising of government, academia, and private sector in a public private partnership.

The Committee is headed by Ms. Khar. The Secretariat is provided by the Competitiveness Support Fund. CSF's mandate includes providing input into high level policy decisions aimed at generating a competitive economy based on sustained economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation.

CSF provides secretarial support, including expert services and research, a database of agriculture institutions, research centers and so-called 'thought leaders in agriculture' who provide a large human expert resource. CSF also provides a National Policy Platform for Economic Growth which is a network approach to policy formulation supported by USAID. This policy network includes various institutions that will complement the work of the committee.

The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is a joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Trade and Development (USAID), and the Government of Pakistan Ministry of Finance, established to reposition Pakistan's economy on a more globally competitive footing.

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.