To celebrate agricultural linkages between Pakistan and Australia and to welcome the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) team headed by Dr. Nick Austin, the high commissioner of Australia Tim George hosted a reception at his residence, which was attended by agricultural experts, members of the relevant ministry as well as the economic affairs division, vice chancellors of Agriculture universities from Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi and members of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) in Islamabad.
Addressing the gathering the host was upbeat about the successful linkages that have been initiated between Pakistan and Australia to improve agricultural output with research oriented methods based on the research of both countries and Australian expertise. Emphasising the fact that apart from the very good bilateral relations in other fields that have increased manifold in the past few years, he said the agricultural linkages programme was an important factor in this development, with phase two of the project now ready to take off.
Thanking all the guests who had come from near and far, he said it was a measure of the success of the programme that they were present and keen to interact with their Australian counterparts. Dr Nick Austin, who has come to Pakistan for the first time on a ten day visit, will be visiting Lahore and Faisalabad and says he was impressed with the huge potential that agriculture had in Pakistan. Addressing the gathering he spoke briefly about his organisation and the work it was doing; the devastating floods that had caused so much damage to crops and fruit farms and what was being done to help those who had sustained these losses; the urgent need for food security and how it could be achieved.
He thanked the host for giving him the opportunity to meet so many agriculture experts at one time and concluded by saying that he was looking forward to working with the government and all the relevant persons in the field of agriculture in the future. In conversation with a couple of guests it came to light that these experts were worried about the use of agricultural land for urban development and said there was a need to pass some kind of legislation to control the trend. ACIAR is a statutory authority that operates as part of the Australian Government’s development cooperation programs. The Centre encourages Australia’s agricultural scientists to use their skills for the benefit of developing countries and Australia. ACIAR funds research projects that are developed within a framework reflecting the priorities of Australia’s aid programme and national research strengths, together with the agricultural research and development priorities of partner countries.
The Agricultural Sector Linkages Program (ASLP) has a total budget of $AU6.6M over four years under an agreement with AusAID, ACIAR has agreed to manage and implement the third and fourth components. The main goals of the agriculture linkages component are: To transfer Australian knowledge and expertise to key sectors of Pakistan agribusiness to increase profitability and enhance export potential; to contribute to poverty alleviation of smallholder farmers through collaborative research and development; to enhance the capacity of the Pakistan research, development and extension system to deliver targeted and practical research outputs to agribusiness and farmers.
The programme will focus on the horticulture (mango and citrus) and livestock (dairy) enterprises, while at the same time addressing underlying issues of water management and institutional and technical capacity building.