Dear All,

The Government has resolved to put Pakistan on a new development pathway and provide all citizens with an adequate level of economic wellbeing in the shortest possible time.  The agriculture sector has a key role to play in this by generating equitable growth and exports, providing employment, efficiently substituting for imports where possible, and ensuring that food and nutrition security becomes a reality for all Pakistanis. The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) is working with national stakeholders, led by the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), and international partners, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to formulate a new Agriculture and Food Security Policy to achieve this. The new Policy would set out a high level vision and goal for agriculture and food security, along with a set of policy directions that would:

1) help the provinces to develop their own polices and strategies, as well as formulate investment plans for both the public and private sectors;
2) set out the key actions that need to be undertaken at Federal level by the MNFSR related to topics such as inter-provincial coordination, international relations in relevant areas, guidance for upstream and strategic research, pest and animal health surveillance, and minimum standards for food safety, seed certification; and
3) propose a series of national flagship programmes/projects to address critical issues that need a  country-wide approach and political backing to be successful.

             A strong consultation process is an essential part of the policy formulation and a series of meetings and workshops at provincial and Federal level are planned. In order to complement these meetings and workshops, this electronic survey is being launched to solicit input from concerned federal and provincial level officials, the private sector, civil society, NGOs, academe, researchers, and the international donor community.

             The questionnaire should take 5-10 minutes to complete.  Please also circulate this request to staff in your institutions as well as other stakeholders you think should be consulted.


             YOU ARE KINDLY REQUESTED TO ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS AND ADHERE TO THE NUMBER OF CHOICES INDICATED. THIS WILL ENSURE PROPER PROCESSING OF THE SURVEY AND AVOID ERRORS.
                                                        http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PAKISTAN_Agriculture_and_Food_Security_Policy_Survey


                                                           If the URL given above does not work, please cut and paste the link to your browser.



Patrick T. Evans
FAO Representative to Pakistan


Ifthikhar Ahmed
Chairperson, PARC



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