BAHAWALPUR: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday inaugurated various projects at Islamia University in Bahawalpur including the National Cotton Breeding Institute in view of the importance of the cash crop.
The institute will bring innovation in cotton cultivation by conducting research on low-yielding crop within limited resources. The researched varieties have so far given an increase of 20 percent with use of 40 percent less water, 50 percent less pesticide and 35 percent reduced cost.
The prime minister also inaugurated the Inter-cropping Research Centre, where initially research is being carried out to increase soybean and maize production through strip-intercropping. An increased soybean production will increase farmers’ income, reduce imports and make Pakistan more self-sufficient in edible oil.
A world-class nursing college was also inaugurated at the university, which will help build the capacity of the existing workforce and provide employment opportunities to the youth of South Punjab.
The prime minister opened a cricket stadium at the Baghdad Al-Jadeed campus of Islamia University to promote the sport.
He inaugurated a 2.5 megawatt solar project to meet the energy needs of Islamia University.
The project not only has the capacity to meet the needs of the university, but will also provide additional power to MEPCO.
The power centre will generate electricity at the cost of Rs1.7 per unit and benefit the national exchequer by Rs455 million in 25 years.