Daily Times

Speakers at an international conference on Tuesday at Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) stressed the need for engaging the local industry to develop precision agriculture technologies to meet the regional needs.

They highlighted the involvement of local industry in research, collaboration with academia and research institutions, effective communication, extension and outreach can enhance adaptation of precision agriculture technologies in the country.

The purpose of the conference was to shed light on Innovative Technologies in Agriculture.

PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman was the chief guest while DG Agricultural Engineering Division PARC Liaqat Ali Shahid was the guest of Honor.

Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman highlighted the issues in agricultural development and stressed on the use of modern agricultural technology/machinery to enhance agriculture produce. He explained the role of academia in bringing change in agriculture sector and said that education plays a significant role in the development of any country. He also stressed that there is a dire need of strong link between academia and agriculture industry to address the problems and challenges of agriculture sector to boost the economy of Pakistan. He suggested to improve agricultural production system on scientific lines to enhance sustainable food production and urged the scientists of the university to play their role to create awareness among farming community about the latest techniques in the agriculture to make Pakistan a food sufficient country in order to feed the increasing population.

Dr. Aitizaz Farooque, Associate Professor, School of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada said that agriculture is a key resource to ensure food security at the planet. The increasing world’s population demands more food for survival, as agricultural land is shrinking because of urbanization and intensification. He said that Agriculture production typically involves uniform applications of crop growing inputs, ignoring spatial and temporal variations in soil/crop/yield/weather and topographic attributes that exist within fields. Uniform application not only increases the production cost but also adversely affects our environment, he added. He was of the view that sustainable agriculture production requires discoveries, innovations and technical skill, which need to be integrated into traditional farming to achieve targeted applications of crop growing inputs on an as-needed basis. He said that precision agriculture technologies are meant to increase production efficiency, profitability and environmental efficiency.