Investment in agriculture sector: UAF, Indonesian university ink agreement

Pakistan and Indonesia have a combined population of more than 400 million people, which offers a lucrative market and a huge potential for agriculture products. Awareness about health and medicinal benefits of fruit, vegetables and organic food is growing, resulting in the expansion of horticulture product markets around the world.
This was stated by Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan, Ishaq Latuconsina after signing an MoU of Bogar Agricultural University Indonesia with the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF).
Addressing the participants of an international seminar on 'Horticulture and Agribusiness in Developing Countries', jointly organised by Embassy of Republic of Indonesia and UAF at Old Senate Hall on Thursday morning, Latuconsina said that agriculture sector of Indonesia has a vital role in its economic development as a major part of its population is associated with this industry.
Like Pakistan, the agriculture sector of Indonesia has a huge potential and its produces and exports diverse range of horticultural products including palm oil, coffee, cocoa products. "We need to promote how important horticulture is for economic development, health and the environment," he said.
He observed that horticulture and agro-business provide an array of exciting investment opportunities and the investors of the two countries can benefit a lot through mutual collaboration. This, he added, can be achieved by improving the product or the methods of production by all available means, which is a fascinating and never-ending. "More emphasis needs to be given to horticultural marketing and economics by having exchange programs between students of two countries so that information can be shared," he maintained.
In his welcome address, UAF VC Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that mango production is threatened by various diseases and Pakistan can gain a lot by holding talks with its Indonesian partners in this regard. In the production, there is no defined rootstock but we have a very capable team on both sides. He said that Pakistan's exports are based on surplus crop but we have to look on ways to export a large volume to the world market. He emphasised the need to collaborate effectively and become a real torchbearer in the development journey of the country, as agriculture remains the mainstay of the economy.
UAF VC told the gathering that we do not sit complaisant and multiply the production up to five folds as this country never witnessed more than four million cotton bails, which now touches the height of 14 million bails. This only happened when we reached the end-users.
Professor Dr Herry Suhardiyanto, Professor Dr Yusman Syaukat, Dr Muhammad Jameel Khan, Dr Agus Purwito, Dr Khalid Mustafa, Professor Dr Eriyatno, Dr Muhammad Ashfaq, Dr Rana M. Aslam Khan, Professor Dr Asif Ali Khan, and Dr Jafar Jaskani also spoke on the occasion.