NWFP Minister for Agriculture, Arbab Mohammad Ayub Jan, has asked the federal government to chalk out an easy and simple way for export of fruit and vegetable of this province to the other countries by installing a Accredited Food Testing Lab in Peshawar.
He was speaking in the inaugural ceremony of the five-day training course on the Application of the Stable and Radioactive Isotopes Agriculture, Food and Medicines here at the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) at Tarnab on Monday.
Besides a large number of participants throughout Pakistan, Member Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Dr Abdul Rashid; Provincial DG Research Dr Abdul Rahim; DG Agriculture Saifullah Khan and director NIFA Dr Farooq Azam were also present on the occasion.
He said that it was a high time that the people and the government should focus their attention on the agriculture sector, develop its productivity and also introduce it in the international market. Arbab Ayub Jan said that unfortunately despite of agricultural state Pakistan is at number eight in the irrigation system we still import sugar and wheat from other countries.
n one side we could not properly utilise the irrigation water and on the other side our 60 percent land still remained uncultivated. He said that the agriculture played a vital role in the people socio-economic life and the irrigation was the state's backbone in the agriculture sector, but, unfortunately, both the sectors have been badly ignored in the past. He asked the agricultural scientists to play their positive role for the development of agriculture sector.
He asked the NIFA and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to hold such workshops for the farmers and land-owners and inform them about the latest and scientific technology. He also stressed upon the development of agro-based cottage industries and gradually transferred them into the farmers in order to develop their economy. Dr Abdul Rashid and Dr Farooq Azam also addressed on the occasion and highlighted the role of the NIFA and PAEC in the field of agriculture and medicines.