FAISALABAD: Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi on Friday inaugurated the Centre for Genome Editing for Nutrition and Health set up at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, for food security and agricultural development.
The centre was set up with at a cost of Rs 1,799 million. He also inaugurated the Precision Agriculture Lab and distributed 25 laptops among the special people. He also distributed 30 Kisan Cards among the farmers and kicked off plantation campaign under the Prime Minister Green and Clean Pakistan drive.
The minister said that the government had allocated Rs31.49 billion for agriculture under the development budget for financial year 2021-22 with 100 per cent increment from the last year in order to uplift the sector, ensure food security and alleviate poverty.
He said that at the inception of Pakistan, the country’s population was 35 million which had reached 220 million now. He lauded the agricultural scientists to ensure food security who worked day and night to come up with new varieties and technology to boost up the agricultural per acre productivity.
The minister said that we had to adopt modern technology to address the agricultural problems to ensure food security. He said that the Genome Centre would help a breakthrough in the agriculture sector. He said that compatibility in the technology at par with the modern world was essential to fight different challenges.
He showed his concern that our agriculture research was not compatible with the modern world so we had to work hard for the improvement. He said that they were determined to address the problems of majority of population which belong to rural areas.
He said that Pakistan was counted in the top 10 countries of agriculture production. He said that the government was ensuring pro agriculture policies. He said that amid the challenges of climate changes, the government was actively working on Green and Clean Pakistan.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan lauded the measures being taken on the part of the government to uplift the sector which was the backbone of our economy. He said that the UAF had developed 14 agrological zones. He said that immediate steps should be taken to fight the devastating impact of climate change.
PCSIR Chairman Syed Hussain Abidi said that the government was paying special attention to promote the research culture and ensure the betterment in the sector.