Pakistan
April 11, 2013
Australia and Pakistan stressed the need to boost up agriculture particularly food security.
Australian delegation headed by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nick Austin visited the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and held the meeting with UAF Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan and other high-ranked officials of the university.
Dr. Nick Austin said that their country was very much concern about the food security across the globe and we had to join hands in order to combat the challenge.
He said that the assistance from the Australia to Pakistan had increased manifold in the field of education and agriculture in term of scholarships and research projects as He maintained in Pakistan the majority of farmers hold less than 5 hectares of land.
Australia-Pakistan Agriculture Program is aimed at reaching more farmers who can benefit from innovation of management practices to alleviate poverty.
Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan said the production of the major crops has been stagnating for the last few years because of climate changes and lack of resources.
He said that the situation of food security was worsening and now we had to depend on growing genetically modified crops in the country to avert the impact of hunger. He said many countries including Australia were using the technology of GM crops.
He lauded the steps being taken by Australia to flourish the agriculture by giving financial assistance to our country.
He said since the inception of the country, the production of the major crops have increased many times owing to increase in per acre production and endeavor on the part of agriculture scientists.
He said the wheat production has boosted up to 7 times, rice production goes up to 13 times , cotton 12 times, sugarcane eight times, potato 116 times, citrus 191 times and guava 220 times.
News Link: http://www.uaf.edu.pk/golden_jubilee/events/111215.html
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