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Summary Agricultural Cooperatives key to feeding the world is theme this year.
The World Food Day will being observed Tuesday with this year theme”” in recognition of the role cooperatives play in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Ministry of National Food Security and Research, in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is celebrating 34th World Food Day.According to the spokesman of PARC cooperatives are present in all countries and all sectors, including agriculture, food, finance, health care, marketing, insurance and credit.It is estimated that one billion individuals are members of cooperatives worldwide, generating more than 100 million jobs around the world.In agriculture, forestry, fishing and livestock, members participate in production, profit-sharing, cost-saving, risk-sharing and income-generating activities, that lead to better bargaining power for members as buyers and sellers in the market place.Agriculture and food cooperatives are already a major tool against poverty and hunger, but they could do much more.It is time to strengthen these organizations and facilitate their expansion while creating a favorable business, legal, policy and social climate in which they can thrive.In both developed and developing countries, there are examples of innovative producer organizations and cooperatives that have proven successful in helping small producers overcome different constraints.However, they too often remain limited in scale and scope. The main challenge is to build on these success stories, in order to achieve sustainable rural and agricultural development.For this, relevant stakeholders need to come together, with clear roles and responsibilities, to define the enabling environment where producer organizations can develop.National governments, development agencies, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, and research and academic institutions all have a role to play in supporting the development of strong, efficient and equitable cooperatives and producer organizations.He said the importance of agriculture sector in the economy of Pakistan can be recognized from the fact that 62 per cent of rural population is engaged in agriculture directly or indirectly, share of agriculture is exports is 60 per cent, provides employment to about 44 per cent labour force and contributes about 21 per cent share in national.In addition, this sector is not only providing food for 177 million population but also feeding more than 160 million livestock and providing raw material for all agro-based industries.“The challenge we face, could only be addressed through translating the knowledge generated by the researchers into innovations and demand driven production technologies having potential to empower farming communities to increase their productivity,” he added.
