FAISALABAD: The climate resilient seed varieties should be developed to increase per acre production and strengthen the agriculture sector, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Asif Tanveer.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a joint meeting of PSDP project titled 'Quality seed production and supply to the farming community for ensuring food security in Pakistan.' He said project was meant to provide an enabling environment with advanced seed research, improved human resources, and set up seed production related infrastructure facilities, which will cater the needs of farmers, national seed companies and public sector institutions.
Dr Saif said seed production is the most important sector, which required coordinated efforts by seed experts and researchers in genetics field. He said we have to introduce genes in seed production that increase resistance to changing climatic conditions. We have to increase the per acre production to feed the increasing population and overcome challenges of malnutrition, and food security. He said that unfortunately the country lacks in the supply of certified seed to the farmers.
Director Planning and Development Irfan Abbas said the project would be completed in three years after consultation with stakeholders on which the government has allocated Rs 764 million. He said there are 900 seed distributing companies are functioning in the country. The strengthened academia-industry ties would pave a way to He said that in the project, tangible work would be carried out on vegetables, quinoa, wheat, and others.
Director Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) UAF Prof Dr Zaheer Ahmad Zaheer said that the UAF was making all out efforts to solve the problems of the farmers in agriculture by strengthening the academia-industrial ties. He said that the project will help build a model seed production, processing and distribution network to promote quality seed supply.
Dr Irfan Afzal, seed scientist at UAF, said the university had launched a degree program in seed science. He said UAF intends to produce early generation seed according to prescribed guidelines provided in the Seed (Amendment) Act 2015 with the collaboration of public sector. He said that basic seed of demand driven crops i.e vegetables (Carrot, spinach, okra and peas), oil seed, crops (canola), fodders (berseem and maize), quinoa and wheat will be produced and conditioned by installing processing plant (3-4 tons/h capacity) at PARS, UAF.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021