Pakistan is importing various commodities despite being an agriculture country; Vice Chancellor urges for investing more in agriculture research.
Tando Jam
The seeds, pesticides and other essential items were distributed among the farmers while the farmers of different areas including Khesana Mori were given training on cultivation and maintenance of pulses at a program held on Thursday at Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam.
The program was organized under the Pulses Project Pakistan in collaboration with Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) and Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR).
Speaking on this occasion, Vice Chancellor SAU Dr. Fateh Marri said, “Economic crisis in Pakistan is increasing due to trade deficit, as despite being agriculture country and self-sufficient in different agriculture commodities, and wheat, cotton, pulses, sugar, edible oil, spices, dried fruits, milk, tea and other are imported from abroad.”
Dr. Marri said that developed countries are constantly engaged in research to deal with food security, climate change issue, increasing yields per acre and to save people from starvation.
“On the contrary, we despite being an agricultural country, are forced to import agricultural and food items from abroad,” he said adding that the country’s trade deficit stands at USD31.1 billion in FY2021 and imports were of USD56.505 billion.
“If we improve our agricultural production and produce according to world standards and do more research in this regard, we can reduce the import bill of many products including wheat, cotton, sugar, tomatoes, milk, pulses, spices, tea,” he said.
Dr. Marri said food imports during the last fiscal year were amounted to USD6.13 billion including USD1.9 billion on edible oil and USD2.05 billion on other food products. He said that according to the data released by the Pakistan Statistics Department, the import of pulses alone has increased by 1.23 million tones. He suggested that governments should invest in agriculture and encourages research for agricultural development.
Prof. Dr. Qamaruddin Chachar, Dean, Faculty of Crop Production, said that the Sindh Agriculture University would provide technical assistance to farmers in pulses cultivation.
Dr. Aijaz Ahmed Soomro, Sindh Focal Person of Pulses Project in Pakistan and Chairman of Agronomy Department, said that pulses are in demand in the country and abroad, including gram, pea and lentil, in the past there was different pulses crops, but sugarcane, banana, wheat and other crops have now taken its place, due to which the demand for pulses in the country is not being met, the project would help farmers to cultivate pulses on their farms.
Dr. Mahmooda Buriro and others also spoke on the occasion. Dr. Aijaz Ali Khooharo, Dr. Neaimatullah Leghari, Dr. Jan Muhammad Marri, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, Dr. Aijaz Soomro, Dr. Qamaruddin Jogi, Dr. Shaukat Ibrahim Abro, Director Finance Anil Kumar, Registrar Ghulam Mohiyuddin Qureshi, along with a large number of university teachers, Farmers and students attended.
In last the Vice Chancellor distributed seeds, medicines and other essential items among the farmers while the farmers of different areas including Khesana Mori were also given training on cultivation and maintenance of pulses. (PR)
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