FAISALABAD: Punjab Agriculture Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo has urged the agri scientists to make innovation in their research and align it with international requirements to overcome ill-impacts of rapidly changing climatic conditions.
Addressing a high-level meeting of agriculture scientists at Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) here on Sunday, he said that the scientists should introduce new crop varieties and provide it to the growers so that these could play a pivotal role in catering to food requirements of burgeoning population by overcoming food security issues.
He emphasized on introduction of new varieties of ginger, olive, papaya, grapes, dates, stevia and other fruits and vegetables and said that their demanding was increasing rapidly in the markets. The scientists should also introduce use of hi-tech technology for cultivation and harvest of high value crops so that the dream of self-reliance in food production could be materialized, he added.
He stressed the need of involvement of representatives from public and private sectors in research & development board and asked the heads of agricultural research institutes to send their cases to the Chief Minister Secretariat on priority basis for approval of 15-member Research & Development Board.
He said that provincial government had planned to start revolving fund which would help to fulfill monetary needs of research institutions in time. Therefore, sufficient amount would be allocated for this fund in the coming budget, he added.
He also stressed the need of capacity building program to resolve problems of the farmers and increase their per acre production which was imperative for food security in the country.
AARI Chief Scientist Dr. Muhammad Akhtar briefed the secretary and said that AARI scientists had introduced more than 98 new varieties of different crops and vegetables during last two years. He said that a Foundation Seed Cell was also set up in the institution for early availability of seed to the farmers. He said that production of pre-basic seeds of important crops had increased from 50 tons to 400 tons due to better utilization of available resources through Foundation Seed Cell.
He said that due to painstaking efforts of the agricultural scientists, a significant increase has been witnessed in the production of wheat, rice, cotton, maize, potato and other crops and the government had received additional agricultural income of Rs.150 billion.
The agriculture secretary expressed satisfaction on cotton research and directed to prepare 2 million bags of new cotton varieties so that the government can implement the plan to supply certified seeds on half rate to the farmers for cultivation it over 2 million acres of land next year.
Additional Secretary Agriculture (Task Force), Punjab, Muhammad Shabir Ahmed Khan, Director General Agriculture (Extension) Punjab Dr. Anjum Ali, heads of agricultural research institutes and agricultural scientists were also present in the meeting.