President Asif Ali Zardari has said that time has come that we move from green revolution to gene revolution and called upon the scientists to conduct research on genetic diversity on the country's major crops wheat, rice and cotton so as to produce disease resistant and high yielding variety of the crops.
The President urged federal and provincial research institutions and universities to work together for developing and introducing latest technologies in agriculture and farming sector to enhance crop production to meet the growing challenge of food security in the country.
Scientists and Researchers in Pakistan should focus on devising strategies to increase wheat and cotton yield in situation where the country is facing the growing challenges of increased population, reduced water availability and deteriorating soil health in the country.
This he said while chairing a presentation on "overall review of agricultural research activities with emphasis on cotton and wheat" given by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) at the Aiwan- e- Sadr on Wednesday.
The presentation was attended among others by Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Minister for Food and Agriculture, M Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President, Nadeem Ul Haque, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Kamal Majidullah, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on water resources, Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar, federal secretaries, food and agriculture and planning and development, Chairman ZTBL, Chairman PARC, chairman PCSIR, Dr Samar Mubarikmand, member PC, Dr Abdul Rashid, Member , PAEC, Rector FAST, heads of Agriculture research organisations and food departments of all the provinces including AJ&K, Vice chancellors of agriculture universities and other senior government officials of the relevant ministries and departments
Chairman Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Dr Mohammad Afzal gave a detailed briefing on an overall review of agricultural research activities with emphasis on cotton and wheat, new technologies and innovations in farming, hybrid seeds development, Pakistan China collaborative projects in drip irrigation and hybrid cotton and wheat and other ongoing and planned projects of PARC.
The President said that research is a basic pillar of agriculture development and urged for according priority to the development of high yielding and disease resistant hybrid cotton, wheat, and rice to cope with the surging food demand with the increasing population of the country.
The President advised the agricultural ministry and PARC to follow the concept of modernised farming and develop plans for helping the small and fragile farmers and reiterated commitment of the present government to improve the livelihood of small farmers and rural population. The President appreciated PARC for its contribution in cotton research and development of latest technologies and expressed the hope that collaboration with China will continue for improvement of agriculture in general and wheat and cotton in particular.-PR