STAFF REPORT IBD: A high-level delegation of Asian Development Bank (ADB) called on PARC Chairman Dr.Iftikhar Ahmad and discussed for developing news basmati rice varieties resistant to BLB and tolerant to flooding.

The delegation was headed by Lourdes Adriano, Advisor and Practice Leader, Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development, ADB.

Dr. Iftikhar said that it would provide an opportunity to have consultation with policy makers of federal and provincial government agencies, scientists of research organizations and other stakeholders including, basmati rice growers, millers, exporters, input providers and identify key challenges and opportunities for basmati rice value chain development in Punjab.

This consultation would pave the way to identify innovative technologies for Research and Development Technical Assistant program, he added.

Dr. Muhammad Sharif, Member, Social Sciences Division, PARC and Director General, National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) said that generally rice growers face the problem of labour shortage especially at the time of transplanting, which results into low plant population, which is one the major factor of low rice productivity.

Speaking at this occasion, Lourdes Adriano said that innovative technologies resistant to bacterial blight and tolerant to flooding pre and post-harvest will be minimized to improve the rice productivity and livelihood of the small farmers.

By Web Team

Technology Times Web team handles all matters relevant to website posting and management.