Transforming standards: UVAS striving to revamp livestock sector, says VC

Talat Naseer Pasha speaks exclusively to The Express Tribune

LAHORE:

In an exclusive tete-a-tete with The Express Tribune, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Vice Chancellor Talat Naseer Pasha said the varsity had been working with the government to revamp the livestock sector in the nation.

Commenting on the livestock shortage, Pasha said the problem was not exclusive to the province. He said the varsity had been working with the Livestock and Dairy Development Department in a myriad of fields including research, policy formulation, disease control and vaccine development. Pasha said a policy centre established at the varsity had formulated the long-term Livestock Policy Vision 2025 for the federal government.

The VC told The Express Tribune that he had been affiliated with the UVAS for four decades. Pasha did his matriculation from Rajanpur and FSc from Sahiwal before obtaining undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the varsity. He joined the Livestock Production Research Institute in Okara after working in the Livestock Department for seven years.

Pasha joined the UVAS as assistant professor in 1987. He obtained a PhD from the West Virginia University in 1993. Rising to the post of associate professor following his return, Pasha was the secretary of the committee that was constituted by the governor to prepare the PC-1 for the varsity. He was the UVAS’s first registrar. He also served as the varsity’s dean for three tenures before being named as its vice chancellor.

He said 70 percent of poultry farm owners had read at the university. “UVAS has been part of the industry’s development, introduction of technology and innovation...Industry personnel have always sought the counsel of UVAS academics and used the varsity’s laboratories whenever a challenge has confronted the sector,” Pasha said. Emphasising the importance of industry-academia linkages, the VC said the university had established a dairy and poultry club that meets once a month to help find solutions to challenges confronting the sectors. He said the varsity played an instrumental role in helping the livestock sector address day-to-day issues like vaccine quality and disease control.

Elucidating the history of the university, Pasha said the varsity’s origins could be traced back to a veterinary school established in 1882 that was later given the status of a college. The UVAS was given the status of a university in 2002.

The VC said the contribution of the livestock sector in the agrarian economy had increased from 39 per cent to 56 per cent over 15 years. He said a large part of credit for this went to the varsity as it had provided the human capital and expertise needed to facilitate such growth. Pasha said academics affiliated with the varsity had won research grants worth around Rs700 million and had authored over 400 research papers this year.

Pasha said demand for food would increase over the next decade due to population growth and increased business activity. He said the need for livestock would rise in keeping with the trend. Pasha said the varsity would play an instrumental role in this regard. *VC Pasha was decorated with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz on August 14 by President Mamnoon Hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2015.