Enhancing fruit productivity and quality, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) has decided to set up 100 mother blocks of different fruits including citrus, mango and peach in the various parts of the country. "Out of 100 mother blocks of fruits, 50 blocks would be established for citrus, 40 for mango and 10 for peach fruit in the various parts of the country in order to enhance the production of these fruits as well as to enhance exports to earn more foreign exchange," said Director General (DG) National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) while briefing media persons about agriculture research and development activities carried out by NARC.
He said that Pakistan has a huge potential in citrus fruit and the government is making all out efforts to enhance citrus productivity. "The establishment of 50 mother blocks would help to produce disease free citrus and will enhance citrus export to a large extent," he further said. The DG said that NARC has set up five processing mills in four provinces which will provide free of cost processing facility to farmers. Azeem said, "NARC is making efforts to produce hybrid seed as we are still dependent on hybrid seed."
He said that the media needs to play its due role in enhancing agriculture and providing timely information to farmers about weather and modern technologies. He also gave a detailed presentation about the NARC's main functions and services, 19 different Research Institutes doing research on various disciplines of agriculture including livestock, poultry and fisheries. He briefed the media about on-going research activities of the NARC and its achievements.
Chairman PARC Dr Nadeem Amjad gave an overview about PARC and its research institutes working across the country for the promotion and development of agriculture sector in Pakistan. He appreciated the support of the media to PARC / NARC, whenever required, and to disseminate their research and new knowledge to farming community in the country.
He said that NARC has introduced three wheat varieties including NARC-2011, Pakistan-2013 and Borlag-2 to enhance wheat production. "Currently, NARC is working over 18 small and large research based projects of Rs 8.339 million," he said, adding in the ongoing financial year the government has allocated Rs 1.36 billion for these projects.
Media persons also conducted a field visit to NARC Agricultural and Biological Engineering Institute (ABEI) where a number of farm machines were displayed. The DG NARC and Principal Engineer Shabbir A Kalwar briefed the media about various new farm machinery including olive extraction machine, wheat straw chopper, sisal decorticator with practical orientation and solar technology to dry fruit and vegetables for manufacturing value added products.
The media persons also visited vegetable experimental area where a number of vegetable nurseries for summer vegetables were ready. The vegetable programme of NARC has been established over 310 vegetable clubs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad area to provide fresh and pesticides free vegetables at household level.