NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND BEST PRACTICES

Getting new and improved technologies and practices into farmers’ hands in the next decade will play a major role in helping Pakistan address its agricultural needs and enhancing economic development in the country. USAID’s Agriculture Innovation Program aims to increase agricultural productivity and quality to create more jobs on farms throughout Pakistan, while providing consumers with better agricultural products.

Although Pakistan’s agricultural sector is a key part of the economy, it is not growing at a pace that meets its potential. Agricultural productivity has fallen behind comparable countries with similar agroecologies.

There is tremendous potential to grow the sector through science-driven technologies, such as protected cultivation of high value vegetables in plastic or screen houses.

USAID is sponsoring research to encourage adoption of new agricultural technologies, with the goal of increasing employment and incomes for 1.1 million rural families by 2018 through irrigation, improved agricultural processes, and connecting small-scale farmers to major agribusinesses.