LAHORE: Syed Hussain Jahania Gardezi, the provincial minister for agriculture, says Pakistan has numerous challenges related to climate change, hence it is crucial to spread awareness of modern agricultural technologies.

He stated at a ceremony held nearby Lahore for the display of the technology that implementing an integrated approach to popularise digital and precision agriculture in Pakistan is necessary.

Pakistan may achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural output as well as the aspiration of exporting agricultural goods by encouraging contemporary agricultural technologies and digital agriculture.

According to him, the transfer of precision technology will aid in boosting domestic production and lowering farmers’ production costs. For small farmers, the Punjabi government is attempting to transmit technologies.

In order to promote digital and precision agriculture at the national level and give farmers access to real-time information, the Pir Meher Ali Shah Barani Agricultural University developed a precision agriculture centre.

He argued that it is a source of great pleasure for farmers today that this technology has come to them, and he added that by supporting modern agricultural technology and digital agriculture, Pakistan can not only become self-sufficient in agricultural production but also realise its goal of increasing exports of agricultural goods.

He commended the Pir Mehr Ali Shah University’s vice chancellor for setting up the centre and underlined the importance of regularly updating its statistics.The university introduced modern digital and precision agriculture for the first time in this country.

He said that this year the university’s students are actively participating in the wheat sowing campaign. The increase in wheat production this year is very important for the country’s food security. We have to increase wheat production by two million metric tons to save valuable foreign exchange for the country. At present, the yield of approved varieties is 60 maunds per acre. If the farmers cultivate and maintain their crops in consultation with the agriculture department, production will surely increase.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Qamarul Zaman said the university had the honour of being the first in Pakistan to develop modern digital and precision agriculture. In Pakistan, farmers are graduating from traditional farming to mechanization, now the university has realized the dream of GIS. The students of the university are providing awareness about the modern production technology of wheat to the farmers as a national mission so that It is possible to increase production.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2022