Experts from eight Asian countries have demanded more government support for organic farming to ensure an environmentally responsible approach to producing high quality food and fibre at a time when the world is faced with severe food crisis. At the end of a five-day international training attended by members of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) included Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, agricultural scientists here also warned that a five time increase in the import of pesticides last season had caused a considerable shortfall in cotton production this year. Held at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), the event highlighted the trends in organic farming internationally and the way forward for the Asian region. Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, Member, Planning Commission of Pakistan and former chairman of the PARC told the participants that Pakistan had increased the size of its pesticide import five times last year with the aim of increasing cotton productivity. But, the move had reverse impacts and rather decreased production by failing to control pests. He said Pakistan could grow organic cotton which had a demanding and expanding market. He said organic farming needed certification to access the international markets so certified institutions had to play their effective role in developing organic farming in the country. Dr Kausar said organic farming made up the largest growth sector in the agriculture industry. Although organic food remained a rich market, organic food sales totalled about $12 billion in 2005. Despite significant growth in the organic food sector, research had to play an important role in keep pace with ongoing activities in the field of organic farming in the world, he added. He said the availability of credit support and other incentives for farmers to convert to organic production needed to be introduced to help the sector grow rapidly and to support associated businesses. During the process of the training, the participants were informed that according to a 2005-06 survey Australia contained 12.126 million hectares, the second largest area was found in China (3.466 million hectares) and the third largest area under organic land was in Argentina (2.8 million hectares). While, the world's total area under organic farming was 31.502 million hectares. India has 114,037 hectares. Pakistan has only 20,310 hectares under organic farming. The land under organic management in percentage of the total agricultural area by country, Pakistan has only 0.07pc of total agricultural area. The number of organic farms was only 28 in Pakistan when the survey was conducted two years ago. Dr Mohammad Saeed, programme officer of the APO, Japan said that the Asian countries needed to establish or strengthen their existing institution in organic farming and certification by training their manpower. He appreciated the role of PARC for arranging training in Pakistan. He asked the scientists that they should disseminate information to the end-users which they got from the training course.