Technological gap in agriculture: DATELINE FAISALABAD
THE three-day national workshop on ‘Technologies for sustainable agriculture’ held recently under the auspices of the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, highlighted the technological gap between agricultural technologists and the farming community.
Agricultural technologists and experts read out papers and delivered lectures on various aspects of agriculture, including innovations for the productivity improvement.
Organizers of the workshop underlined the need for interaction between the experts and the farming community to boost the agriculture sector. They said they wanted to bring together all the players that could contribute towards making the agricultural system sustainable. The main objective was to sift information, seek new knowledge and recommend strategies for both short and long-term sustainability of agro ecosystems.
Inaugurating the workshop, Planning Commission deputy chairman Dr. Shahid Amjad lauded the contribution made to country’s agriculture by PAEC in general and Niab in particular. He stressed the need for further strengthening the agriculture base of the country and to introduce technologies useful for sustained agricultural productivity. He suggested that Niab should expand its programmes to include some socio-economic aspects of agriculture and develop into a university of agriculture science and technology.
He said scientists at Niab and the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering had sufficient experience in teaching and guiding graduate and post-graduate students to serve as faculty of a full-fledged university. The role of agriculture had changed, and it was now to produce foodstuffs for an industrial society to turn into something else. In Pakistan, farmers were trapped by globalization because they must export to survive and compete with the world markets. Now, agriculture would have to be treated like another industrial sector, but the vision on its future direction was missing, he said.
PAEC member (Biosciences) Dr. Kausar A. Malik highlighted the achievements of agricultural centres of his organization, especially in introducing different crop varieties and developing saline agriculture for adoption at national and international levels. He mentioned the IAEA-sponsored programme on utilization of salt-affected lands that encouraged participation by farmers.
He said over the years, PAEC centres had been able to evolve and release 40 varieties through radiation mutation, including cotton varieties Niab-78 and Niab-98, which were virus resistant, and had higher yields and improved fibre qualities. The only constraint was marketing and giving proper returns to farmers who were fast losing interest because of increase in production costs. In addition to cotton, nearly all varieties of mungbean, chickpea and lentils had originated from PAEC centres.
He said the contribution to Niab/NIBGE efforts in biotechnology was worth mentioning. NIBGE had been able to contribute towards the management of cotton curl virus by isolating the causative virus, studying its genetic make-up and then developing very sensitive diagnostic tests, which had helped the plant breeders to develop CLCV-resistant plant varieties. Moreover, the technology of DNA fingerprinting, molecular marker assisted breeding and development of transgenic crop had been developed. In addition, bio-fertilizers for meeting nitrogen and phosphorous requirements of various crops had been developed and were being marketed under the trade name of Bio-Power, he said.
NIBGE had also been active in the area of health, environment industry where they are working in collaboration with the end users. For example, in the health sector, very specific diagnostics for hepatitis-C, typhoid, TB, thalassemia and genetic disorders had been developed. In the area of environment, a process had been developed to detoxify the industrial effluents especially from the textile industry.
Niab director Dr. Mohsin Iqbal highlighted the need of such an activity and contribution of Niab to endeavour towards achieving self-sufficiency in food and fibre requirements. He claimed that during the past four to five decades, a phenomenal increase in agricultural productivity had been achieved. This was brought about through technologies developed at the PAEC and other agricultural institutes in the country.
So far, Niab scientists had developed 19 varieties of different crops. For utilization of saline wastelands and brackish water, a biosaline approach was developed in mid-70s that was currently being utilized by eight countries in South East Asia. In the area of animal biology, a vaccine developed for HS disease provided immunity to the cattle for one year. Urea Molasses feed blocks had improved health, milk production and reproduction of animals, he said.
A progressive grower from Multan, Saddiq Akbar, gave a detailed presentation on organic farming. He showed how he achieved high cotton yield by using furrow-bed planting. He has achieved 30 per cent higher yield of commercial varieties and 50 per cent in case of cotton hybrids utilizing combination of compost fertilizer and chemical fertilizer in new technology of ditch planting.
The workshop consisted of seven technical sessions and 60 participants from diverse national organizations of the Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP attended it. Twenty-five papers were presented by experts, including researchers, farmers and private entrepreneurs.
The first session provided an overview of the achievements of agricultural centres of PAEC and the scope of organic farming for sustainable agriculture.
In the second session on ‘seed and crop management’, six papers were presented by experts from different institutions. Special attention was paid to the significance of maintaining speed, quality, duration, production, handling storage and use. The lecture on off-season vegetable attracted great attention as a means to generate financial gains over a short period and on a small farm size.
‘Soil management’, which was the subject of third session, provided an opportunity to learn the latest techniques to maintain and improve soil health, especially of problem soils, by conserving (zero tillage) and augmenting (using bio-fertilizers and copping) soil resources, including moisture, organic matter content and microbial life. Zero tillage technology is less labour intensive and economical. However, threadbare discussions were held on side effects (particularly parasite/predator relationship, weeds, etc.) accompanying zero tillage.
Temporary or relatively long-term shortage of irrigation water, its consequences for crop production and the methods to economise water use provided the basis for three papers during the fourth session on ‘water management’. Special attention was paid to improving the quality of irrigation water through chemical treatment like use of gypsum or acid. Conservation of water through increasing the level of soil organic matter or using surface mulch was shown to be a promising choice.
‘Management of fertilizers’ and their use was the subject of the fifth session. Four speakers provided a review of the available technologies to tackle fertilizer problem. Use of mineral fertilizers in conjunction with organic manures, time and placement of application and fertigation technique were some of the aspects covered during the discussions.
Session on ‘plant protection’ consisted of four papers of basic and applied interest. Biological as well as integrated pest management were projected as the more appropriate approaches compared to chemical methods alone for controlling plant diseases. It was emphasized that plant types resistant to prevailing and upcoming disease needed to be developed.
In the session on ‘animal health and nutrition’ not only new vaccines developed at Niab were introduced, but food supple