FAISALABAD, Oct 27: The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) has sent around 850 students to different areas to impart training to farmers in a bid to make Punjab government’s wheat sowing campaign a success.

Talking to Dawn, UAF vice-chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmed said that over 850 male and female students under the programme titled ‘Travelling Seminar’ would help farmers cope with food security challenges efficiently.

He said that students trained by agriculture scientists of the university had been sent preferably to their home districts where they would coordinate with local agriculture officers to impart training to farmers till Nov 30.

The move was a part of students internship programme and all selected students were fully prepared to help farmers benefit modern techniques, he added.

He said the students would persuade farmers to employ modern methods instead of traditional ones to achieve a bumper crop and the reinforcement of farmers’ way of thinking would defeat the looming food crisis.

He said that standard operating procedures had also been issued for the students and they would guide growers when to sow wheat, what was best time for fertilizing and irrigating fields etc and how to best utilise machinery and equipment.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had asked the institution to dispatch groups of students to field areas to help the government achieve wheat production target and rid the nation of food security threats, Dr Iqrar said.

The chief minister, who is scheduled to visit the university on Nov 3, would also be requested to announce special incentives for this free workforce, the VC said and added the university would try to make this programme a national movement.

Election postponed: By-election for Lyallpur Town nazim slot scheduled to be held on Tuesday (today) has been postponed because of the law and order situation.

All the arrangements for the election were complete when the candidates were informed that the polling had been postponed till Nov 17 ‘because of the law and order situation’.

The town comprising urban as well as rural areas has 38 union councils with 481 votes for town nazim’s election. The polling was scheduled for Wednesday from 8am to 5pm at the town offices.

The Pakistan People’s Party has fielded a turncoat, Nadeem Aftab Sindhu for the slot, being opposed by Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Amin Butt.

Mr Sindhu termed the poll postponement a conspiracy hatched by his rivals who he said were afraid of their imminent defeat.