Effective co-ordination among agricultural universities, research and extension departments needed to be enhanced to meet the growing food and fibre demands of the country. This was stated by the speakers of a stakeholders' workshop on "development of unified agricultural research system comprising education, research and extension" here at University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Monday.
Addressing the participants, former NA Speaker Syed Fakhar Imam deplored that though the parliament has a majority of farmers but they had turned a deaf ear to the real issue of formulation of agricultural policy in the country. He said agriculture was the mainstay of the economy and would remain a driving force in the future with multiple challenges, which can only be addressed with an integrated approach of all stakeholders. Fakhar Imam expressed his dismay over the declining trends in all developmental indicators and said agriculture sector requires an effective collaboration among education, research and extension services which at present, operating under different departments and silos with minimal co-ordination.
"Unfortunately, Pakistani universities are not being used by the industry, whereas European Union has a unified agricultural policy with the help of their universities," he added.
Former Vice Chancellor UAF and renowned scientists Professor Dr Amir Muhammad emphasised the need for better co-ordination among the pillars of agriculture system, as the world is constantly changing and developments are taking place which needed better working and integration. He urged the government to invest more on agriculture for getting the desired results.
He underlined the need for conducing comparative studies of various crops with other countries like India and Egypt, so as to find out weakness and strengths in agriculture. UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, felicitated Shahbaz Sharif for constituting a committee on evolving a unified agricultural research system comprising education, research and extension.
He said that in Pakistan, Lyalpur Model of education, research and extension was disintegrated in early sixties but the same model produced commendable results in India where 45 universities were operating under this model. Dr Iqrar called for massive investment in agriculture research, integration of agricultural triangular and capacity building in a new and innovative way.
He told that the aim of the workshop was to involve the stakeholders in a discussion process for developing an acceptable model for integration, to revisit the existing models, have input from stakeholders and to publish and share its outcomes. Dr Mubarik Ali, Chairman PARB said his organisation tried to bridge the gap and brought other institutions close to UAF by funding 21 research projects.
He maintained that Pakistan is a country where return rate of agriculture research is about 80 percent than 41 percent of the rest of developing world. Dr Khalid Mehmood Khan, VC Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi underlined the need for changing the mindsets of all stakeholders by thinking out of the box solutions.
Dr Muhammad Ehsan Tasneem, Member Food & Agriculture Planning Commission of Pakistan said agriculture is the saviour of the country in past, present and will remain future economy of the country. He said the 10th five-year plan of the country is being prepared. Rice exporter Syed Faisal Hassan, Dr Noorul Islam Khan from Ayoub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad and others also spoke on the occasion.