FAISALABAD:
In a bid to meet the food security needs of Pakistan’s growing population, the participants at a seminar urged the government to promote biotechnology and genetically modified crops as the existing land and water resources will be greatly affected due to increasing population.
The speakers said that the declining investment in agriculture will not only affect the sector itself but will also hurt overall growth.
The seminar was organised by Directorate of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation and attended by journalists, expert in the field of agriculture from across the country.
Joining the seminar through video conferencing, University of California San Francisco Professor Bruce Albert said that technology was the only way forward to meet the food security challenges in the coming years.
University of Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the seminar would pave way for sharpening the understanding about genetically modified organisms and future prospectus of agriculture in the country. Describing the media as a powerful tool for creating awareness about various daunting challenges, Khan urged the media to highlight the issues related to 80% of the country’s population.
He said that the UAF is going to offer a bachelor programme in microbiology and biotechnology adding that a PhD programme in genetics and ecology is also on the cards.
Highlighting the significance of internationalisation, Khan said that the university is working on establishing an agricultural policy centre.
He said that during the last 50 years, UAF had produced around 969 PhDs adding that half of them have been produced during the last five years. He added that 900 more PhDs will be produced during the next ten years.
Former minister for Livestock and a progressive farmer Mumtaz Khan Manais underscored the need for promoting corporate farming.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2012.
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We should study and learn from the countries in our immediate region before running off with the theory that ' what ever the gora says has to be right '. Most often it is right for them and very, very wrong for us.
this lead to farmer genocide , pakistan should go towards organic farming , decrease input costs , conserve your soil for future races