FAISALABAD:The agricultural experts called for promoting modern trends including precision agriculture at national level in order to increase productivity and address the challenges of food security.
They were addressing an international seminar on “smart agriculture to optimize fields inputs and add value to yield” arranged by the Precision Agriculture and Analytics Lab CASAFS University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) at the Center for Advanced Studies Auditorium here on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the modern, smart and precision agriculture techniques were need of the hour to ensure food security in Pakistan.
He stressed the need for adopting precision agriculture as every grain of seed, every horsepower of machinery, and every man-hour of farm labor counted to remain competitive and sustainable in face of global economic and climatic changes.
He said that due to lack of modern innovative agricultural technologies and smart agricultural practices, Pakistan was facing stagnation of productivity in various crops.
“Pakistan can enhance 10% volume of production of wheat crop by reducing post-harvest losses which can reciprocally ensure self-sufficiency”, he added.
PMAS Arid University of Agriculture Rawalpindi Vice Chancellor Prof Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman said that precision farming used modern technologies to improve crop quality and profitability. Therefore, this agricultural management system contributed to the development of sustainable agriculture, he added.
University Dalhousie Scientist Dr. Ahmad Ali Mallahi said that industrial and academia through collaborative efforts could develop innovative agronomic practices to overcome food security issues.
The agricultural sector could enhance productivity by involving the stakeholders through prototyping and field trials, he added.
Prof. Dr. Asif Kamran also stressed the need of remote sensing and drone technologies in agriculture coupled with satellite imaging processes to estimate the crop yield that would help take timely trade related decisions.