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| October 15, 2003 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 18, 1424 |
Govt attention towards agri sector sought
RAWALPINDI, Oct 14: Participants at the inaugural session of the 4th national conference on plants pathology held here on Tuesday urged the government to save plant varieties facing extinction and allocate more funds for the neglected sector of agricultural research.
The participants, including scientists, researchers, teachers and students, also expressed concern over the ongoing environmental degradation in the country and unrealistic agriculture policies of the government.
The three-day conference has been organized by the University of Arid Agriculture and the Pakistan Phytopathological Society.
The provincial minister for agriculture, Mohammad Arshad Khan Lodhi, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said Pakistan had yet to go a long way to compete with advanced countries in the agriculture sector.
About 25 per cent of the country’s population derive their livelihood from this sector, while 48 per cent of the labour force and major industries are also linked with agriculture, he added.
He said the area under cultivation was about 22.8 million hectare, which was continuously reducing owing to salinity and water logging. As the population is increasing and the land resources are shrinking, the country direly needs increased agriculture production from the available land and water resources, he added.
Mr Lodhi said new pest and disease problems were increasing owing to unchecked introduction of diseased propagative material like seeds and tubers and development of resistant pests and pathogens because of improper and indiscriminate use of pesticides. The use of pesticides had also destroyed the bio- control agents in agro-ecosystems, he added.
Consumption of pesticides, he said, had drastically increased from 665 tonnes in 1980 to an alarming 14,773 tonnes in 1990 and more dangerous 61,299 tonnes in 2000. About 54 per cent of all pesticides in Pakistan was applied on the cotton crop, he added. The provincial minister said during 1993-94, the estimated losses due to cotton leaf curl virus disease amounted to Rs100 billion.
He asked the scientists and researchers to exploit modern tools of genetic engineering and biotechnology to develop the agriculture sector.
The minister also said the government would soon provide land to the University of Arid Agriculture so that the scientists could carry out research.
On the occasion, the minister also distributed shields among 16 scientists and researchers for their performance and contribution. Those who received the shields are Shahid Dultana, Dr Sarwar Alam, Dr Waqar Ahmed and Dr Riaz Chohan from Faisalabad; Dr Rukhsana Bajwa and Dr S. H. Iqbal from Lahore; Dr Shabir Ahmed and Dr Muhibullah Khan from Peshawar; Saifullah Khan from Balochistan; Dr A. K. Khanzada, Munawar Hussain, S. J. Hamid and Ali Mohammad Khaskheli from Sindh; and M. A. S. Kirmani, Bashir Ahmed Khan and Dr Kishwar Nazir from Islamabad.
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