University Of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) VC Prof Dr Anas Sarwar Urged Govt To Focus On Vertical Growth To Overcome Food Security Issue.
University Of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Anas Sarwar Has Urged The Government To Focus On Vertical Growth To Overcome The Food Security Issues. Talking to APP here on Saturday, he said that 70% of Pakistan’s population was directly or indirectly engaged with the agriculture sector. Therefore, development of agriculture on modern lines was imperative for development of the country, he added.
The VC said there were many reasons for non-development of agriculture sector in the previous decades including unavailability of high quality seeds and fertilizers, etc. He appreciated the steps taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan for development of the sector. He said that due to lack of financial resources, our farmers could not pay much attention to their crops and as a result, the entire nation had to suffer in case of shortage of produce. Power shortage and unavailability of water for irrigation were also major reasons for decline in agricultural production.
He said that PM Imran Khan, realising the future needs of the country, had hinted at promoting agriculture in the deserts as well as adopting latest technology to increase agri productivity. In this connection, the PM also announced providing loans to farmers for purchasing agricultural inputs which will help in resolving the issue of food insecurity.
The decision to seek help from China to guide Pakistani farmers for getting maximum yield is also a right and good move, he added. Dr Anas Sarwar said that his university would do its utmost to materialise the dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan in the field of agriculture and livestock. He said that the UAF would fully take up the challenge of food security and we would provide all possible assistance to our farmers in this regard so that they could play their role in overcoming the national food insecurity in a better way.
He said that the scientists of University of Agriculture Faisalabad are working day and night for promotion of new technologies among farmers, in addition to developing new seed varieties for various crops. In this regard, farmers would be convinced and encouraged to adopt new technologies in agriculture in a systematic manner.
Dr Jalal Arif, professor of Department of Entomology, said that the University of Agriculture was working on food security as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that the UAF was the largest focal institution in the field of agriculture in Pakistan, where scientists are working day and night on development of seeds of various crops as well as biotechnology, insecticides and landscaping.
He said that due to farmer-friendly policies of the government of Pakistan, a record increase has been witnessed in agricultural production this year which is unprecedented in the history of the country. If the government continued work on priority basis for development of agricultural sector, the time is not far away when Pakistan would emerge as a strong agricultural country in the world, he added.
This news was originally published at Nation.