BEIJING: The lab for ecosystem restoration and sustainable development jointly built by the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) and Shenyang Normal University, China was inaugurated last week.
Vice Chancellor (VC) of UAF Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the two sides expected to carry out some innovative projects and research programs together under the lab.
“In Pakistan, land degradation has been eroding agricultural output. We look forward to green technology to address this problem,” Dr Abid Ali of UAF told China Economic Net.
“In addition to joint research and publication, student and faculty exchange is also part of the cooperation.”
At the inaugural ceremony, five representatives from UAF namely professor of horticulture Dr Muhammad Jafar Jaskani, professors of entomology Dr Muhammad Jalal Arif and Dr Abid Ali, professor of botany Dr Muhammad Saqib, and professor of agronomy Dr Zeeshan Ahmed were engaged as visiting professors of Shenyang Normal University.
“In Pakistan, Two third of the rapidly increasing population depends on drylands to support their livelihood mainly by engaging in agro-pastoral activities. The vast arid and semi-arid areas which take over 70% of the national land area, all have been affected by land degradation.”
According to a Remote Sensing study, “Land degradation in Pakistan is mainly due to vegetation loss and withdrawal of agriculture, accounting for 53.78% and 40.07% respectively. This is particularly acute in the transition area from the northern mountainous area to the central and eastern plain and the Indus River Basin, where the intensification of human activities also plays an important role.”
“From the year 2001-2020, Pakistan’s land degradation area reached 17,550.07 km2. The problem becomes even more severe after the biblical floods last year which destroyed 4m acres of crops nationwide and caused $3.18bn damages to the agriculture sector, leaving the impact to be felt for years,” it added.
Experts suggested that effective land use methods be formulated to protect the ecological environment and vegetation, improve the productivity of cropland, optimize the use of cropland resources, and reasonably reclaim cropland to realize Land Degradation Neutrality and sustainable development of land resources in Pakistan.