Country importing 88pc edible oil

FAISALABAD: Speakers at an international conference said that it was a matter of grave concern that the country was importing 88 percent edible oil of its consumption due to which the oil import bill exceeded to 3 billion dollar a year.

The Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) under Turkish's Mevlana Exchange Programme organized the International Conference titled "Soybeans: Challenges and Opportunities" at New Senate Hall, UAF, on Monday.

Divisional Commissioner Asif Iqbal Ch presided over the inaugural session of the conference as Chief Guest while UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa was the guest of hour.

Commissioner Asif Iqbal Chaudhry urged the agriculture experts to introduce viable technologies to promote soybean cultivation coupled with its markets to facilitate the farmers sell their produce and earn profit. It will ultimately increase production of edible oil commodities across the country, he added.

He was of the view that before the participation, Britain rulers introduced canal system in Sandal Bar that turned sand dunes into fertile fields.

He said that now it was our responsibility to promote modern agricultural practices in the country so that target of food security and poverty alleviation could be met effectively.

He told the audience that the local production of edible oil stands at 0.431 million ton (12%), whereas the total imported edible oils stands at 3.191 million ton (88%).

Therefore, in this regard, the total availability of edible oil touched to 3.623 million ton, he added.

UAF VC Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa said that we would constitute a committee of focused working group comprising young scientists to conduct research and development on soybean.

He urged the participants to accept the challenge of modern era and pursue the targets with full devotion. He underscored the need to bring forward some viable solutions of the confronting challenges to make the soybean an attractive crop of the farming community.

He added that tangible steps were needed on the part of the all stakeholders to reduce the edible oil import bill. He also said that we have to build our capacity in the seed technology as the country imports seeds of the different crops worth billions of rupees.

He said the country was spending one billion dollar annually only on import of Soybean oil. He said that if we become able to develop the market of Soybean for farming community, it will increase the oil production.

He said that under the Prime Minster Plant for Pakistan Programme, the university and the district government would arrange a mega event by taking all stakeholders forestry department, PHA, Irrigation Department and University community on board to plant thousands of saplings in a minute and set a new record divisional in this regard.

Director Oilseed Research Institute Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) Dr Muhammad Aftab while talking about climatic conditions for growing soybean said that Soybean grows well in the regions having mild climate with low temperature (30oC). It should be well drained and fertile loam soils with a pH between 6.0 and 7.5.

Talking about the role of his institute for the promotion of soybean, he said that they have collection, maintenance and evaluation of Soybean germplasm entries (300 enteries). They were working on breeding programme for the development of new soybean varieties having better adaptability for local climate.

Senior Professor Faculty of Agriculture Prof. Dr. Asif Tanvir, Conference coordinator Dr. Haroon Zaman Khan, Secretary Dr. Muhammad Aslam Malik, and experts from Turkey also spoke on the occasion.