Daily Times

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that a sub-campus of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) would be established in Narowal in order to produce skilled manpower and tangible research work for uplift of agricultural in this area.

He was addressing a farmers’ gathering arranged by the UAF in collaboration with Agriculture (Extension) Department Punjab and Ali Akbar Group in Narowal on 8th day of its nine-day wheat enhancement campaign. The minister said that although Pakistan was an agrarian country, yet we were importing edible items by spending billions of rupees. He said that Pakistan imported 3 million tons of wheat and edible oil worth 4 billion in addition to other commodities which was a matter of grave concern.

However, the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced Agriculture Package worth Rs 1800 billion which was a hallmark step for the rehabilitation and progress of this sector; he said and urged the agriculture scientists to accelerate their efforts for enhancing farm productivity which was very imperative for food security and poverty alleviation in addition to cater to food requirements of the country.

Speaking on the occasion, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed the need to promote mechanised farming and said that latest practices should be adopted in agriculture sector to increase production of the crops. He said that flood devastation badly affected the agriculture sector in Pakistan. Hence the agri scientists should take solid steps to increase agri productivity on war-footing, he added. He said that Pakistan was blessed with tremendous resources. However, elaborate measures were need of the hours to per acre yield and make the country self-reliant in food sector, he added.

Director General Agriculture Extension Punjab Dr Anjum Ali Buttar said that the agriculture department was also utilizing all available resources to introduce latest technologies among the farming community. In this connection, the field staff was also assigned target to educate and guide maximum peasants so that they could adopt latest techniques during cultivating and harvesting their crops. The recent campaign would also help contact maximum number of farmers and persuade them to complete cultivation of their wheat crops during November so that they could get maximum production of their crops, he added. Dean Faculty of Agriculture UAF Dr Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Dean Faculty of Sciences Asghar Bajwa, UAF Entomologist Prof Dr Jalal Arif, Deputy Director Agri Extension Tanvir Ahmad and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ali Akbar Group Mr. Saad Akbar also addressed the function.