Daily Times

Faisalabad: The sub-campus of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in Toba Tek Singh will emerge as the independent university to fulfill the demand of higher education of the locals at their doorstep, said UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Anas Sarwar Qureshi.

He was addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a one-day training workshop on Chicken Infectious Anemia in Commercial poultry organized by the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, UAF.

He said that the government was seriously considering giving the status of the independent university to the sub-campus.

Commercial poultry has an investment of over Rs.1000 billion and more than 1.5 million jobs and it is contributing 1.4% to the growth rate. If diseases like Newcastle, bird flu, etc are controlled timely, the sector can flourish further.

Referring to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, he said that in our country, a person consumes 17 grams of animal protein as compared to 27 grams of animal protein available per capita globally.

He said that new technology in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases should be used to reduce its cost so as to enhance the role of poultry in the economic activities of the country.

Dr. Rubina Farooq, Vice-Chancellor, Government College Women University, Faisalabad, appreciated the arrangement of the training workshop and hoped that it would help the participants in the problems of poultry.

Prof. Dr. Farzana Rizvi, Chairperson, Department of Pathology, said that local development of effective vaccines for diseases like Rani Kheet, infectious bird flu in chickens would also be an important step for which experts would have to come forward.

Dr. Kashif Salimi briefed the participants about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of infectious anemia in chickens. Dr. Tariq Javed, Dr. Ahrar Ahmad Khan, and others attended the meeting.