The Australian government has planned to invest US$ 13 million under its Agriculture Sector Linkages Programme (ASLP) Phase-II in order to improve living standards of small farmers in Pakistan. The first phase of this programme was launched successfully in 2005 for the support of Pakistan’s agriculture sector.

The cornerstone of Australia’s support to Pakistan’s agriculture sector.has been the Phase II of the programme, Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, Margaret Adamson, said recently.

She also highlighted the achievements of the ASLP Phase I and said it included the uptake of furrow irrigation by nearly 1,000 citrus farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resulting in up to 40 per cent reductions in water usage, and the first successful shipment of mangoes to Europe by a farmer’s consortium. The high commissioner informed that Australia was now importing fruit from Pakistan and termed it one of the achievements of the programme.

She said that collaboration between government, business and research bodies, supported by Australian expertise, led by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been a leading force in the dairy, citrus and mango sectors in Pakistan, and has provided a model for future engagement in agriculture and water between the two countries.

Margaret Adamson said that the ASLP would be followed by a similar programme that will be known as the Agriculture Value Chain Collaborative Research (AVCCR) programme.

Under design at the moment, it will draw on Australian expertise to assist Pakistan improve agricultural productivity, add value to raw agricultural products and improve access to markets for those products.

The AVCCR will complement Australian government’s engagement with other investments in agriculture to provide strategic support to the Pakistan government in the agriculture sector,” she added.

The high commissioner said: “Our common climatic conditions, ecological diversity and federal systems of government are an obvious platform of mutual interest to share knowledge and to establish research and technical linkages between our two countries aimed at a sustainable future, food security, environmental protection and economic prosperity for our people. And our mutual interest is strengthening in light of the impacts of climate change on our ecosystems.”

Commenting on the Australian aid to Pakistan, she said the other priority areas are: infrastructure, trade facilitation and international competitiveness, effective governance, policies, institutions and functioning economies, education and health, building resilience, humanitarian assistance, disaster risk reduction and social protection, gender equality and empowering women and girls.

However, she said sustainable development of the agriculture sector was critical for economic growth and to build flexibility in vulnerable communities. Within this context, the contribution of women is significant as around 72 per cent of working women have some association with the agriculture sector, she added.