Government should promote new technologies for increasing the production of food crops which would ultimately help in curbing overall sky-rocking food prices.

Increasing the production of food crops through traditional methods would not be sufficient to meet the challenges of increasing food demand, thus there is a dire need to make more investment in the agricultural research for getting benefits from the genetically modified crops, Yassar Sakhi Butt, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) made these remarks while commenting on the massive increase in the prices of essential food items.

ICCI President was of the view that our country has immense potential to turn into the food sufficient country in view of its biggest canal system in the world as climate was also conducive to year round for crops production.

He was responding to a report that the prices of basic food items increased by 79 percent within 4 years and said that Government should focus on achieving self-sufficiency in food production because common man was facing severe economic crisis due to constant hike in food inflation on everyday basis.

Yassar Sakhi Butt said that Government should encourage growers to adopt modern techniques to increase food supply and tap true potential of agricultural productivity in the country. 

He stressed upon the Government to allocate more funds for agriculture research which was currently around 0.2 percent of agricultural GDP. He said that Government should introduce more knowledge-intensive agriculture research system that focuses on technological innovations.

ICCI President further said that the country could also easily benefit from the experience of Asian countries, especially China and India adding that the exchange of information and experiences is important among these nations.