Cultivation of soybean stressed under intercropping system

FAISALABAD: University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan Tuesday stressed the need for promoting soybean cultivation at national level under intercropping system.

Presiding over a meeting on soybean cultivation, the VC said it was a matter of grave concern that the country was spending $5,000 million on the import of edible oil and poultry feed.

Islamia University of Bahawalpur Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Athar Mehboob was the guest of honour on the occasion.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Anas Sarwar Qureshi, deans, and directors, UAF Soybean Cell In-charge Dr Zaheer Ahmed, and National Research Center for Intercropping Technology Islamia University Bahawalpur Director Dr Muhammad Ali Raza also attended the meeting.

The meeting was also briefed on the UAF-IUB ongoing joints soybean projects.

Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said soybean is one of the famous crops in the world but unfortunately we are far lagging behind in its cultivation. He said $1,000 million is being spent for poultry feed industry while import of $3,000 million was made for edible oil.

He said if soybean cultivation was ensured with the help of intercropping system technology along with maize, sugarcane and other crops, it would not only help meet the demands of the country but also provide opportunities to earn billions of rupees by exporting. He said it was essential for the intercropping system to develop mechanisation. He hoped that joint soybean research projects by UAF and IUB would prove a milestone in the promotion.

Dr Athar Mehboob said work on three UAF and IUB joint soybean projects is in full swing while three more projects are likely to be launched in the coming days. He said adoption of modern trends in the field of agriculture would not only help achieve the goal of food security but would also alleviate poverty. He said we have to develop a strategy to address the issues of the country by using the developed countries models and tangible research works.

It will open up new avenues of development. He said that different projects worth Rs 12 billion were underway in IUB which would move the university to new heights of the progress. He said out of Rs. 12 billion, Rs. 4 billion has been secured under public-private partnership.

Dr Zaheer Ahmed said 30 per cent of vegetable oil is obtained from soybean worldwide while it is being used in more than 400 food industries. He said soybean cultivation at the national level was negligible and its promotion under intercropping system was the need of the hour.

He said both the institutions were making all-out efforts to promote soybean cultivation on scientific basis.

He said there was a need to create public awareness for enhancing the usage of soybean as part of food in addition to edible oil. Soybeans contain 40 per cent protein and 20 per cent oil, he said.

Dr Muhammad Ali Raza said the National Center for Intercropping Technology has been established at IUB in collaboration with Sichuan Agriculture University, China that would bring the benefits of intercropping system to the farmers. They also visited different laboratories.