A Japanese non-governmental organisation is promoting high-value crops in Muzaffargarh district among small farmers holding less than one acre of land to alleviate poverty. Nippon International Co-operation for Community Development's (NICCO) country representative Juri Murakami said this while talking to Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan Chamber on Thursday.
She said that her organisation had started working in Pakistan two years ago after the floods. She said that at the outset, they started rescue and rehabilitation work in flood-hit districts. In the second phase of project, she said, they had begun development of areas by promoting awareness, besides providing fertiliser and other farm implements aimed at increasing the income of the local people.
Initially, she said, they were focusing on moringa, lemon grass and other crops, helping local people earn heavy foreign exchange. Director of the university's Institute of Horticulture Amjad Aulak and other scientists from the university were also present on the occasion.
UAF's Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that it was matter of grave concerns that the incidence of wastage of fertiliser was the highest in the country in Multan and Muzaffargh. He said that with the help of Turkey, the UAF was conducting a survey of extremely low-income people to provide 500 best breed goats to hundreds of families in the district.
He said that at times of floods, the university provided best seeds to farmers in Athari Hazari and Jhang for cultivating crops in flood-hit areas to help accelerate the rehabilitation process. The Vice-Chancellor assured the delegation of the UAF's support in their project.