Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said coronavirus has pushed global hunger to new heights.

Almost a billion people were facing hunger before the pandemic while the outbreak has added millions to the food insecure population, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that people are falling below the poverty line but proper steps are not being taken to lift them out of poverty.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the free market economy model pushed by the west has damaged the agriculture sector in the developing world and Pakistan is no exception.

He said that reduced involvement of the government in the agriculture sector has not only damaged agriculture but put the farmers at the mercy of middlemen and loan sharks.

Increased involvement of the private players have reduced production, farmers are not being paid their due share while masses are forced to buy food at very high price prompting them to compromise on health and education.

The business leader said that agriculture cannot be revived if the welfare of the farmer is not included in the plans as their role is central to food security.

He said that the former government focused on roads, mass transit and the power sector while the incumbent government is focusing on the construction sector but agriculture is not getting due attention.