Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan on Tuesday said that the agriculture sector witnessed 6.6% growth and it had a huge potential to ensure food security and earn precious foreign exchange if developed on modern scientific lines by handholding small farmers.
He was addressing the 28th convocation of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) in which degrees were awarded to 9,194 students who passed out in 2023 while 26 students were decorated with gold medals, 61 with silver medals and 20 students with bronze medals. As many as 124 PhD scholars were also conferred degrees on this occasion.
The governor said that UAF had valuable services in the development of agriculture and hoped that it would continue to play its role in the coming years too. He said that the country was blessed with fertile land, four seasons and ecosystem but we had not benefited from the blessings. “The country’s mangoes, rice, cotton, wheat are of great importance worldwide. We have to take steps to remove our bottlenecks so that the dream of agricultural prosperity could be fulfilled by overcoming agricultural imports worth billions of rupees,” he added.
He said that more than 60 percent of our population consists of youths. “If we equip them with quality and professional education, development will be our destiny. We also have to take steps regarding moral uplift in society as there is deterioration in society and in case of a difference of opinion, we have to argue with patience and tolerance based on logic,” he added.
He congratulated the students who passed out from the UAF and assured them of a better future.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that in the last 15 years since 2008, with the financial support of the Punjab and federal governments, the UAF infrastructure has increased manifold with Rs.40 billion, which is more than the investment made during the period of 100 years from 1906 to 2008.
He said that the UAF was the only educational institution in the country which is ranked among the best 100 universities across the globe.
He said that in 2008, the number of women studying in the UAF was 20 percent, which has now exceeded 50 percent. Similarly, Center for Advanced Students, D-8 Center, Pak-Korea Nutrition Center, Chinese Confucius Institute and Seed Testing Lab have been established under international partnership. It would help develop the sector on scientific bases.
He said that 75 percent of the students in UAF were admitted on the basis of district and rural quota.
He said that the university has prepared a 10-year agricultural policy for the government, while now a five-year policy is being prepared. Alumni Meet was also organized on this occasion in which various programs including Sufi night, sports competitions are arranged.
Controller of Examinations Muhammad Tariq and senior alumni Hafiz Abdul Qayyum also spoke on the occasion.