Punjab Food Minster Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi has said the government is striving for the rehabilitation of 40-million people living below poverty line and taking solid measures to cope with this alarming issue.
He was addressing an annual function of Socio-economic Forum of University of Agriculture, organised by the Faculty of Agri, Economic & Rural Sociology, as a chief guest here on Monday.
Gardezi urged the need for value addition and post harvest technology at farm level for the elevation of poverty. The minister lauded the role of UAF for bringing agricultural revolution in the country. He said that UAF was a major source of generating skilled manpower in the field of livestock and agriculture.
He said the government would prioritise the poverty reduction strategy through the MTEF, which is being used for budget making. The budgetary and non-budgetary medium term expenditures for PRSP-II are being estimated as part of an exercise to cost the MDGs that had recently been completed.
This exercise costs the financial resources required to achieve the MDGs related to the health, education, and water and sanitation sectors. The PRSP framework will also provide an assessment of performance in achieving the millennium development goals.
UAF Vice Chancellor, Professor Dr Bashir Ahmad in his welcome address highlighted the university's role in the promotion of education and research in the field of agriculture. He said the university had been ranked No 1 among the public sector universities of Pakistan due to its infrastructure and academic excellence.
Students from faculty of Agri Economics & Rural Sociology present skits, national songs and cultural show at the event. A large number of students, faculty members and distinguished guests from Lahore, Islamabad & other parts of the country attended the function.