ISLAMABAD: The United States on Thursday announced it was introducing a $4.5 million program in Pakistan to strengthen the agriculture sector though fertilizer efficiency and modernizing the country’s farmers, a joint statement issued by the US Embassy in Pakistan said.
The announcement was made after a meeting of the US-Pakistan Climate and Environment Working Group in Islamabad, a joint initiative to address the issue of climate change.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2022 ranks Pakistan the 8th most vulnerable country in terms of climate-related challenges, including water stress, desertification, glacier melting, extreme weather events, and the spread of diseases.
“The United States announced new programs in Pakistan, including a $4.5 million program from the US Department of Agriculture to strengthen fertilizer efficiency and effectiveness for Pakistani farmers,” the US embassy’s statement said after Thursday’s meeting in which officials and experts discussed the importance of adopting modern farming practices and innovative seed varieties to bolster resilience against climate change.
A study on the climate impacts on Pakistan’s agricultural sector shows sixty percent of the country’s population directly or indirectly relies on rain-fed agriculture that depends on predictable weather patterns. A disruption in those patterns due to climate change affects agricultural production, farm livelihoods, and agribusiness infrastructure, leading to food insecurity and malnutrition among the farming communities.
To address the challenge, Pakistan and the US have made new commitments to partner together and have recommitted to tackling the climate crisis through cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
On water management, the governments have identified technical assistance, governance, and water efficiency mechanisms as areas ripe for cooperation.
“Both governments emphasized the importance of supporting nature-based solutions and building community resilience to climate change,” the statement said.
The delegations also discussed devastating floods in Pakistan last year — which killed more than 1,700 individuals and displaced 33 million people — and emphasized the importance of building resilience to climate change impacts.
The two countries resolved to continue deepening their bilateral partnership through the US-Pakistan “Green Alliance” framework, which they said would help Pakistan and the US to jointly face the climate, environmental, and economic needs of the present and future, especially through partnership on agriculture, water, and clean energy.
