HYDERABAD: Provincial Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Ismail Rahu said that Agriculture faces many challenges, and research work is being started in collaboration with the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU).

Addressing a seminar on the importance of certified seeds and inauguration of wheat harvesting, the provincial minister said that after paying salaries and other expenditure, funds are limited for research but the Sindh government is trying to start work on new projects as soon as possible, because agriculture cannot develop without research.

“Efforts are being made to subsidise agricultural products and equipment to farmers, use of modern technology, training of farmers, improvement of water courses and other issues can be solved and to increase the yield per acre,” he added.

SAU Vice Chancellor, Dr Fateh Marri said that most of the provincial and federal institutions related to agriculture are in Tandojam, so all the institutions can form a board and carry out joint research work, which will develop agriculture in Sindh and he added that climate change threatens Pakistan’s agriculture, while the country faces food shortages due to its ever growing population.

He said that there are 160 PhD scholars in the university while 35 PhD scholars in the provincial agricultural institutes. If a grant of Rs100 billion is allocated for agriculture and appropriate grants are allocated for research, better results will be obtained.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021