Farmers asked to use modern methods to increase production

FAISALABAD: University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan has asked the farmers to use modern methods to enhance production and compete with the world.
He was talking to the members of 18th Senior Management Course, National Management College, Lahore, who visited the UAF here on Monday. The members were led by Tariq Najeeb Najmi.
The UAF VC said that we were wasting 40 per cent produces due to poor post-harvest practices. He said that the country was having only 5 per cent value addition to perishable agriculture commodities that was a matter of concern.
He said that value addition could fetch heavy foreign reserves to the country. He said that Pakistan was a food secure country but water crisis was hampering the process. Talking about agriculture land, he said that agricultural lands had been reduced due to industrialisation and increasing population.
He informed that 24,000 students were studying at the UAF campus while the number was only 900 in 1961 when the college was elevated to the status of university. As many as 43 PhD students of the UAF got scholarships under the Prime Minister Tuition Fee Reimbursement Scheme initiated for underdeveloped areas. Meanwhile, in a function held to distribute cheques among the UAF students, the VC said that the UAF was providing all assistance to the deserving students, adding that the varsity enrols the students on quota basis with special focus on rural areas. Around 25 per cent students were getting scholarships to continue their studies, he added. Later, the VC distributed cheques among the students.