Parliamentarians and agricultural scientists have urged the Punjab government to address concerns of the people attached with research before corporatising agriculture research institutes. They feared it would politicise institutions like Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and ultimately would lead to a complete disaster.
They were commenting on the Punjab government's plan of restructuring agricultural research institutes in the National Assembly standing committee on food, agriculture and livestock meeting here, on Thursday.
The meeting, chaired by Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar, was attended by Dr Rozina Tufail, Dr A.K. Khanzada and Rao Muhammad Ajmal and minister for agriculture and livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, besides Minfal secretary M. Ismail Qureshi, PARC chairman Dr M.E. Tasneem and eminent experts including Dr Amir Muhammad Khan and Rana Saeed Iqbal.
Punjab agriculture secretary Fayyaz Bashir briefed the meeting that improvement in the existing research and services structure would be made under the restructuring plan of Punjab agriculture, research and extension.
Corporatisation or privatisation of agriculture research would provide better pay scales and timely promotions and qualified research scientists would be hired at attractive packages on current market rates, he added.
Former adviser to president on agriculture and PARC first chairman Amir Muhammad Khan said the agriculture education is not according to our needs and the quality of our graduates is dismal.
"The corporate model proposed by the Punjab is a disaster in the making. People already working in the system should be given necessary incentives to improve their skills," Dr Amir observed.
MNA Dr A.K. Khanzada suggested instead of establishing new institutions in the name of restructuring, the Punjab government should improve existing laboratories and study agriculture research and development system of India. Dr Kauser Abdullah Malik, PARC chairman Dr M.E. Tasneem and Rana Saeed Iqbal also shared the same views.
While appreciating efforts of the Punjab agriculture department, Minfal secretary Ismail Qureshi hoped the government would continue taking inputs in this regard before implementing the plan.
Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Alam Anwar, in his concluding remarks, said performance of the agriculture sector could be improved further by strengthening the enabling environment. Earlier, Punjab agriculture secretary Fayyaz Bashir made a detailed presentation of the proposed restructuring plan for Punjab agriculture, research and extension.
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