UNISAME COMMEMORATES WORLD FOOD DAY ON 16th OCTOBER

World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. The day is celebrated widely by many other organizations concerned with food security, including the World Food Programme.
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The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) held a meeting at Unisame House to commemorate ‘World Food Day’ and since it coincided with the auspicious day of eid (festival) of sacrifice which inculcates the distribution of sacrificial meat to the less privileged it strengthened the message to ensure that the poor need to be taken good care of according to Islam and all other religions of the world.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said that Pakistan being an agricultural country enjoys the blessings of major self sufficiency in rice, wheat, maize, vegetables, fruits and edible oils.Pakistan also enjoys the blessings of self sufficiency in poultry, fish and cattle meat.
and now needs to increase export of value added food items.

In fact Pakistan exports many food items and it is getting ready to export pre-cooked food to many countries of the world.
Many food processing units are exporting famous Pakistani items to chain stores and super markets in gulf, middle east and Europe.

He said it is pertinent to note that our production of all food items can be increased manifolds by scientific approach in farming, food processing, dehydration and canning. The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) needs to do more and work vigorously in the global markets.

The guests agreed to exploit the global markets for value addition goods made from rice, wheat, maize, fruits, vegetables and meat products with UNISAME.

Exchanging views on the subject of value addition some guest highlighted the opportunities for SMEs in items made from dry fruits, peanuts and dates and combinations of items produced in Pakistan.

Thaver urged the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to focus on pre-cooked food items business for the promotion of self employment.

Members also stressed on the increase in prices of food items making them unaffordable for the under privileged and urged the government to exempt food items of daily use from levies and taxes.

The gathering also stressed on the need to ban imports of food items which are made in Pakistan to promote the local industry.

They said that butter, cheese, biscuits, confectionery, jams, jellies, marmalade,mayonnaise, syrups are all made in Pakistan and imports of these items is discouraging the local industry especially the SME units are unable to compete.

The meeting unanimously resolved to improve production, quality, packing and hygienic standards of production and preservation of food items.

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