Agriculture: Minister urges academia to help resolve issues

Punjab government working to ensure food security.

FAISALABAD: The agriculture sector is facing different challenges like water scarcity, climate change and crippling energy crisis and the academia and researchers should come up with solutions to overcome them, said Punjab Agriculture Minister Dr Farrukh Javed.

Speaking to participants of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad’s 22nd convocation, Javed said, “We must ensure food security for the rapidly growing population. It is a matter of concern that the country is importing edible oil worth Rs3 billion.”

Highlighting the Punjab government’s role in addressing the issues of agriculture and farming community, he said, “The Punjab government has converted 20,000 tube wells to biogas as a pilot project to deal with the power shortage.”

He said the agriculture department had launched the precision land levelling and water conservation programme including the micro drip irrigation system worth Rs36 million. Steps are also afoot to promote the cultivation of olives in Potohar area.

“Our new hybrid maize seed is available in the market for just Rs2,500, compared to Rs7,000 for seeds produced by multinational companies,” he said.

UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said UAF was making all-out efforts for the development of agriculture sector through ensuring food security and trained human resource.

He said the university has achieved 97th position in agriculture sciences, according to the National Taiwan University. It is ranked 20th in the Asia-Pacific region.

Former Indian chief election commissioner Dr Manohar Singh, who received an honorary PhD degree from UAF at the convocation, while speaking to the audience, called for collaboration between the academia through student and faculty exchange programmes.

trade.Published in The Express Tribune, March  27^th,  2015.

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