The tangible agricultural researches and adoption of modern agriculture practices are the way forward to increase productivity and address the different challenges including poverty, and unemployment, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ashraf.
Addressed the deans and directors meeting at the Syndicate Room, he directed the scientists to actively work on value addition, seed production, digital innovation center and to prepare the concept papers to get funding and for the welfare of the society. He said we have to develop knowledge-based economy to compete with the rest of the world. He urged the engineers to develop low cost agricultural machinery after reverse engineering for small landholders that will help shift towards modern agriculture. He said that value addition will not only increase the farmers' income but also help fetch foreign exchange.
He said that the university had mapped put a plan to develop ISO certificate laboratories for commercial level also. He showed his concern that despite the fact of being agrarian country, per acre agricultural production was low as compared to the developed world.
There is a need to take the stepped up efforts to address the issue at the national level. He directed the Executive Director Endowment Fund to showcase the university technologies in the exhibition center so that people can get benefit from it.
He said that the country was importing edible oil worth billions of rupees. He said the present government was taking fruitful measures to reduce edible oil import bill and it was also expecting from agricultural experts to play their active role in this regards.