FAISALABAD: Sixty per cent of water and inputs in the agricultural fields are being wasted due to imbalance in usage and unavailability of modern technologies, says vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday night at a local hotel, he said shrinking profitability in agriculture sector, injudicious use of inputs, poor farming techniques, post-harvest practices and effects of climate change on crops are making the sector incompatible globally and aggravating the woes of the farming community.

He said climate changes were playing havoc with the crop production and food security issues.

He said fast-changing demography, climate and international trade policies were hitting the economies of the countries. In this situation, agriculture seems to be more important than what might have appeared as a source of food security only, he added.

Dr Ahmed also shed light on the working of the USAID project titled US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies (USPCAS) in Agriculture and Food Security.

Besides working as temporary VC, Dr Ahmed is also serving as the head of the USPCAS-AFS as he issued the notification in this regard.

He said under USPCAS, five chairs including climate change, precision agriculture, biotechnology, outreach and policy had been established to address the problem of sector by making it compatible with the international market. He said faculty-student exchange program was also part of this project and 50 out of 138 people have got training.

Dr Ahmed said USPCAS has initiated commissioned research keeping the need of the farmers and trends in agriculture in view.

He said due to bad food habits and diminishing outdoor healthy activities, 40pc of population suffers from malnutrition, obesity and other health issues that invite our attention to diversify our food by blending corn and wheat flour and putting other options on the table.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2017