KHAIRPUR: A 25-member team of growers of date palm from North Waziristan (NW) paid a research visit to the Date Palm Research Institute (DPRI) of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur. They also visited the orchards of the Date Palm of University and learnt about production of dates. An awareness seminar was also held, chaired by Prof Dr Badaruddin Memon, Dean Faculty of Natural Science. Prof Dr. Badaruddin informed that date palm has been a major crop of Sindh. It is the source of food and also source of earning foreign exchange. More than 5,000 types of date palm are available in the world and more than 400 types of these are being cultivated in Pakistan, he informed. Prof Dr Ghulam Sarwar Markhand, Director DPRI welcoming the participants said date palm is an important crop of the country and it is the need of the hour that awareness should be provided to growers for better cultivation of the fruit. DPRI has introduced dates of Saudi like Ajwa, Safawi, Ruthana and others and also dates of Balochistan. DPRI is providing awareness regarding increasing of production of dates to growers through tissue culture, he added. Date growers of NW, Moulana Sadaruddin Phulpoto and Muhammad Ismaeel, Dr Abdul Qayoom, senior officer Dates Dera Ismail Khan, Amjad Ali, Coordinator Sarhad Rural Support Programme and were of the view that government and private sector should take collaborative initiatives for better cultivation of dates in the country. They appreciated that NW growers have learnt a lot from DPRI. Published in Daily Times, July 15th , 2017.