STAFF REPORT BHV: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will soon initiate projects to improve soil quality in areas with saline and water-logged soils, FAO country representative Dr Kevin Gallagher said on Monday.
“Most of these projects would be implemented in southern districts of the Punjab. Salinity and water scarcity are global issues and need to be tackled through joint research initiatives by agriculture experts,” FAO country representative Dr Kevin Gallagher while speaking at a recently held two-day conference on Saline Agriculture: Fighting Hunger and Poverty in Southern Punjab in the Islamia University of Bahawalpur.
The conference has been organised jointly by the IUB and the Soil Salinity Research Station, Rahim Yar Khan.
He said that we can help fight poverty and malnourishment by finding ways to make saline and water-logged soils cultivable. “Intelligent water and pesticide management are also important in making farming more sustainable,” he maintained.
Earlier, IUB Vice Chancellor Prof. Mukhtar said given the favourable climate and fertile soil, Bahawalpur farmers only needed familiarity and access to modern techniques to improve crop yields.
He said research in sustainable agricultural practices had been helped with the recent establishment of
University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the IUB.