FAISALABAD City News

Call to promote precision agriculture

From Our Correspondent

FAISALABAD: Expert Arman Razaee from the University of California, Davis, the US, has called for promoting ICT, precision agriculture and improving vocational training to ensure food security in Pakistan.

He was addressing a seminar at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Tuesday. He said that agriculture was contributing to 21 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product. He said that modern technologies were inevitable to compete with the rest of the world. He said that awareness among the farmers about the modern trends would help address the problems. He said that artificial insemination was crucial to renewing livestock, but the market for AI suffered from asymmetric information.

Speaking on the occasion, UAF VC Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the university had launched short message service for one million farmers meant for creating awareness regarding balanced use of fertilizer. The step would reduce the cost of production and increase production, he added. He said that there were 25,000 villages in Punjab and if we connect the farming community with the ICT to educate them about the latest agri practices, it would boost up the production. He said that the Punjab government had launched a scheme of smart phones for the farmers. He lauded the steps being taken on the part of the government to uplift the agriculture sector.

US Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security technical expert Dr Nancy Allen also spoke on the occasion.