Islamabad: The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Economic Affairs Division on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of AUD 1.2 million for regional rural transformation in the country, according to news sources. The regional countries included in this project are Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.
On behalf of their respective
organisations and governments, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ACIAR Prof Andrew
Campbell and Acting Secretary Economic Affairs Division Ahmad Hanif Orakzai
inked the subsidiary agreement on “understanding the drivers of successful and
inclusive rural regional transformation and sharing experience and policy
advice”.
According to the official press release, the initiative is aimed at understanding the nature, consequences and divers of rural transformation in the aforementioned countries, and is expected to take three years to complete.
Rural transformation concerns
itself with analysing the evolution of agricultural systems over time, and
their states of commercialisation from subsistence and market-oriented farming
practice arrangements. The countries engaged in this project are currently at
various stages of this ‘evolution’ – and have registered varying outcomes based
on their respective developmental paces.
The data reveals the rural
population share to be the highest in Bangladesh (65%), followed by Pakistan
(61%), Indonesia (46%), and China (43%); with the average share for developing
countries globally tied at the 58% mark.
Reportedly, Pakistan’s expanding
urbanisation is pressuring its land, labour and other resources to yield higher
productivity; with this project being geared to study the Chinese rural
transformation model and analyse its results for other countries (faced by the
similar challenges) to derive lessons from.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
