ISLAMABAD: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has assured Pakistan that it will continue to play a leading role in transforming the country’s agriculture food systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient. This is a challenge that has gained urgency following recent floods that have devastated the country’s agriculture sector.

To date, the FAO has mobilized over $25 million and has provided over 600,000 affected people with seeds and fertilizers. The FAO’s role in Pakistan includes the provision of technical leadership for the Transforming Indus Basin Initiative, funded by Green Climate Fund. Through this programme, some 1.3 million people in vulnerable areas of the Indus River basin will see improved yields and increased returns of between 30 and 80 per cent in their production. The project will help shift Pakistan and its Indus Basin agriculture from the current situation of high vulnerability toward an alternative paradigm in which better information, water management and farming practices will significantly increase resilience to climate change.

Original Link: https://www.dawn.com/news/1731046