FAISALABAD, Feb 7: The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has decided to set up a seed company to market seeds of its ‘disease-resistant and high-yielding’ varieties.

This was stated by Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik of Bio-Sciences, PAEC, while addressing the concluding session of the five-day training workshop on “Diagnosis of Rinderpest and other Morbilliviruses in National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetics Engineering (NIBGE) here on Friday.

He said PAEC institutes at Faisalabad (Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology-NIAB), Tando Jam (Sindh) and NIFA, Peshawar, had so far developed 40 disease-resistant and high-yielding seeds.

He said that the marketing of seeds of these varieties would not only generate additional resources for the R&D activities but also help enhance the overall agricultural production by ensuring the availability of quality seeds at affordable rates.

“We are not multinationals and would not fleece the farmers,” he said.

Identifying the legal complications, Dr Kausar said that the Ministry of Environment had evaluated the bio-safety guidelines and its final approval was required to launch the seed company. Similarly, the Plant Protection Act was also waiting clearance from the ministries of Law and Agriculture.

Underlining the role of the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) and NIBGE in the fields of agriculture, environment and health, the member, biosciences, said that these institutes were also mandated to share their knowledge with scientists belonging to other R&D organizations and play their role for human resource development.

He thanked Dr Thomas Barrett, an expert of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) for visiting Pakistan and delivering lectures on Rinderpest. He requested him to inform scientists of the developed world that Pakistan was quite safe and there was nothing to be worried about.

Earlier Dr Thomas Barrett, Dr. Ahmed Mukhtar Khalid, Director NIBGE, and Dr Qaiser Mehmood Khan, course organizer, addressed the assembly.—APP