Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB), Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) held a detailed meeting on Friday to work together for bringing improvement in rice sector. The meeting was organised at the auditorium of the board was attended by the PARB Chief Executive, Dr Mubarik Ali, LCCI President, Shahzad Malik and REAP Chairman, Irfan Ahmad Sheikh and Vice-Chairman, Taufique Ahmad Khan.
The objective of the meeting was to have a close interaction among these bodies regarding rice market, prospects and future agenda to meet international standard. Chief Executive PARB, Dr Mubarik Ali gave a detailed presentation on PARB's vision, project scrutiny, high priority issues of crop sector and role on international collaboration in PARB's projects. He briefed about the institutes, which have collaboration with PARB's projects, namely International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Tokyo University, Arkansas University Toronto, Sri Lanka Sugarcane Research Institute, Plant Breeding Institute Sydney and Illinois University Okayama. Dr Mubarik Ali said that they wanted to make the system more collaborative with international linkages.
He said that PARB has funded six projects on rice through its board, addressing the main problems to enable rice to be better grown in poor-resource quality conditions (flood, drought, salinity), by products (bran oil), identification of emerging issues in rice industry, scarcity of water and poor labour in rice production and suitable hybrid for various eco-region especially for coarse rice. "One thousand acre of rice has been lost in recent floods and we have to develop flood resistant varieties on priority basis," he added.
The participants were also informed about the implementation status of these projects in the light of PARB's monitoring and evaluation. Chairman REAP, Irfan Ahmed Sheikh also talked about the activities and set-up of REAP as introduction for the participants. He said, "We are giving millions of rupees to enhance economy through rice production. We can give partial even full funds from our Export Development Fund (EDF) for the upgradation of rice sector through scientific innovation and technology".
He suggested to include one member of REAP on PARB's board in order to have their output for Research and Development plans and projects. He urged for involving REAP in PARB's projects at the initial level. "The involvement of industry is important to know about proposed projects because its feedback will be very helpful in selecting emerging issues of rice sector", he added.
President LCCI, Shehzad Malik highly appreciated the inputs of the participants for rice sector and suggested to have a close collaboration with LCCI, REAP and PARB to identify researchable issues on rice. He was optimistic that the ongoing projects could bring fruitful results for rice sector but a lot was needed to be done for research and development.
Chief Executive PARB, Dr Mubarik Ali assured that all the proposed projects on rice would be shared with REAP in future and appreciated their valuable output for this sector. "We will be pleased to utilise our scarce resources for the uplifting of rice industry in collaboration with REAP and LCCI," he said adding that proposal of making one member of REAP on PARB's board is noted and will be negotiated with authorities concerned for approval." The meeting also discussed the infrastructure problems and poor resources of Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kaku and agreed to improve its set-up on priority basis from the allocated funds.
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