PESHAWAR, Jan 29: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said improvement in standard, productivity and self-sufficiency is the basic target of the government in the agriculture sector. Judicious use of resources also included among these targets, he added.

Speaking at a briefing at the NWFP University of Agriculture here on Monday, he said the government wanted to review the performance of this sector and its related organizations.

He regretted that the organizations had set aside their own targets indulging in the activities of other departments.

“After identification of problems in the agriculture sector, we would be able to take solid steps for improvement of education and training in this respect,” he said.

The governor, stressing need to asses research work, said every department of the university should be made accountable for its performance.

He suggested to evaluate the education and training given to farmers and modern technology transferred to them.

Mr Iftikhar said the trend of research on agriculture in the public sector needed to be recognized on modern line as the expenditures on the work were far greater than the output of these centres.

He hailed the research work being done in the private sector.

The governor said, though Rs6 billion had been spent on research in the agricultural university, its work was far behind than the research in the private sector. The government did not want to repeat the experiment of the past, the governor categorically stated.

He said there were certain reasons for entrusting the research to the university and the government wanted that more benefits of the centre could be noticed by the public.  

The association of research centre must bring marked improvement to boost agriculture produce of the province.

He warned if nothing concrete came out, then the government would revert to the old mechanism, detaching the research centre from the university and bring it back under the control of the provincial government.

Higher education: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said the government wants to promote higher education in all parts of the province.

He said this, while presiding over a meeting here on Tuesday on the funds being given by the University Grants Commission to the newly-established universities in the province.

The meeting, according to a handout, reviewed the working of the newly-established universities of Science and Technology at Malakand, Hazara and Kohat.

The governor told the meeting that the government had released Rs14 million to each of the universities. He said educational institutions of the respective areas should be affiliated with the universities.

Their affiliation with the universities would not only facilitate promotion of education, but they would also be able to generate funds for themselves, he added.

The meeting was informed that the Kohat University had been formally inaugurated, while the other two universities would be inaugurated soon.

PC-I of Rs39 million for bio-technology and Rs34 million for Information Technology of Hazara University have been prepared. Initially, admissions to seven faculties would be offered by the university.