Agri research being supported: minister

MULTAN: Federal Minister National Food, Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam Friday said the government was supporting research in agriculture to solve issues relating to farmers and agriculture.

Addressing an online international moot hosted under the aegis of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriuclture Institute of Plant Protection titled “Smart Plant Protection, the minister mainly highlighted the government priorities in the agriculture sector and said the government is making efforts to improve the standards of agriculture research so solution to all issues relating to agriculture would be solved.

MNSUA Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asif Ali said they believe in solving issues due to climate change. The MNSUA Institute of Plant Protection is conducting research on biological control of insect pests like pink bollworm, whitefly, locust, fruit flies and diseases of crops, by the use of entomopathogenic organisms. Biocontrol agents are safer to human, non-target organisms and ecosystems.

Globally renowned agriculture experts including Prof Mark Gleasen of US, Dr Syed Farooq Shah (UK), Dr Methew L. Paret (USA), Dr Jose Eduardo Serrao (Brazil), Dr. Sukirno (Indonesia), Dr Tariq Mukhtar (Pakistan), Dr AD Abid (DG Federal Plant Protection) was prominent among the presenters.

The south Punjab Agriculture Secretary Saqib Ali Ateel, South Punjab Additional Secretary Agriculture Barak Allah, PARB executive officer Dr Abid Mehmood, ECOSF president Dr Manzoor Hussain Soomro were among also present on the occasion and they largely appreciated the quality of presentations and congratulated MNSUA Dean of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Prof Dr Shafqat Saeed and his team organized such a successful event.

In the international conference besides Pakistan, policy makers, academia, experts, students, industrialists and farmers participated from around the world like USA, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bangladesh and UK. The conference was launched on three online links at the same time and also live from Facebook. More than 225 research papers were sent to the conference, out of which more than 60 were selected for oral presentations.