Experts at Farmers’ Field Day ceremony emphasize collaborative work by domestic as well as Chinese agricultural institutions
Tandojam Sindh
The speakers at Farmers’ Field Day ceremony on Sunday emphasized collaborative work by agricultural institutions, and the local and Chinese private sector for the growth of certified seeds and new seed commodities in Sindh
They also demanded to increase the research budget to the development of agriculture and to access the demand for pure seeds, and experts also suggested that apart from government institutions experimental fields may be set up on farmers’ lands.
Suggestions were made at First Farmers Field Day ceremony organized by the Seed Production and Development Center (SPDC) of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC), Agriculture Research Sindh and UBL.
Addressing the occasion, Vice Chancellor Dr. Fateh Marri said that during independence in 1947, war conditions in 1971 and economic problems in the present era, agriculture is the only sector due to which we are dealing with food and economic crisis, although in terms of production per acre, we are still far behind the developing countries, while there is a need to increase the budget for agricultural research by 20%, to get positive yield results,
“We along with the provincial agriculture department and its subsidiaries are producing seeds of wheat and other crops in Sakrand, Setharja, Mirpurkhas, and Kotdiji and have started joint research work in this regard.” He added
Noor Muhammad Baloch, Director General, Agriculture Research Sindh (ARS) said that 13 new varieties have been introduced by ARI, while our institution, Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA), SAU and Sindh Seed Corporation are also working with the private sector for seed expansion.
He said that even now we are suffering from more than 40% seed deficiency in wheat alone, so the non-standardization of seed, fertilizer and agricultural pesticides coming from other areas is harming the agriculture of Sindh.
Ashfaq Ahmed Memon, Former secretary and former assistant to the chief minister for irrigation and a progressive farmer said that 70% of the population of farmers in Sindh is illiterate, for which the agriculture of the province is still running according to the traditional system, so technology is not available to the farmers, while the knowledge system should be made more efficient to transfer the knowledge of agricultural development.
Mr. Lucas, the head of China’s private seed company in Pakistan, said that the biggest damage was done to agriculture, including people’s homes, due to floods in Sindh, China wants to restore agriculture in Pakistan and especially in Sindh, but we are starting work on hybrid rice seeds, and we will work with Sindh Agriculture University and other agricultural departments and the private sector to develop the pure seeds.
Progressive Farmer Muhammad Nawaz Nizamani offered giving his land in Tandojam, Tando Muhammad Khan, Golarchi or at Sijawal to Sindh Agriculture University, Chinese Seed Company and research institutions as an experimental field for seed expansion and hybrid seed.
Director of Seed Production and Development Center, Dr. Zahoor Hussain Soomro, gave a briefing regarding the current situation of seeds in Sindh, production of wheat rust-free seeds, demand, research and expansion of commodities.
Dr. Mujahid Leghari, Chairman HPFC, Dr. Shahnawaz Marri, Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kambhar and others also spoke.
During the ceremony, Dean Dr. Ghiyasuddin Shah Rashidi, Dean Dr. Manzoor Ali Abro, Directors of Agricultural Research, Agricultural Extension, Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and heads of various departments, representatives of private seed companies, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, progressive farmers and a large number of officials and teachers and students were present.
After the ceremony, all the participants also visited the seed field of University, while also inaugurating the laboratory established in the field. (PR)
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