ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Wednesday that the government will send another 1,000 Pakistani students to China this year for advanced training in agriculture and livestock development as part of efforts to modernize the country’s agricultural sector.
Addressing a national seminar on livestock capacity building in Islamabad, Sharif said Pakistan’s farmers work tirelessly across all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, but continue to lag behind regional competitors because of limited access to modern technology and equipment.
The prime minister said Pakistan has significant untapped potential in agriculture and livestock, noting that the country is the world’s fourth-largest milk producer and has considerable capacity to expand meat production.
Sharif criticized the performance of some public institutions established to support agriculture and livestock, saying many had suffered from mismanagement and nepotism.
He called for closer cooperation between the federal and provincial governments to modernize the sector and translate policy into practical action.
He also announced that the federal government would fully fund the development or procurement of vaccines needed to combat livestock diseases, adding that related projects would be outsourced to improve efficiency and avoid the shortcomings of past institutions.
Highlighting the importance of international cooperation, Sharif said the government would continue its partnership with China by sponsoring another 1,000 students for specialized training this year, following a similar initiative launched last year. He urged authorities to make effective use of the expertise gained by returning students to help improve Pakistan’s agriculture and livestock sectors.