ISLAMABAD, June 11: The chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has called upon different scientific and research organizations to maintain close cooperation so that the benefits of research and development could reach the end-users in an efficient way. Dr Badaruddin Soomro was talking to Dr Farid A. Malik, Chairman of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), at a cheque handing over ceremony here on Saturday.

Dr Malik gave a cheque for Rs2.16 million to Dr Soomro, as the first quarterly instalment of a project titled “Establishment of pilot green tea processing plant.”

They discussed the prospects of joint collaboration in other vital sectors of the economy including the commercial utilization of Neem seeds and distribution of solar dryers for processing apricots in the Northern Areas and Balochistan.

It may be mentioned that the PARC, PSF and a private company had signed a memorandum of understanding in March for commercial production of green tea, developed by the National Tea Research Institute (NTRI) in Shinkiari (NWFP). Under the MoU, the PSF will provide funds for the pilot project and act as a programme coordinator to ensure timely completion of the project and transfer of technology.

The NTRI-PARC would be responsible for the installation, maintenance and functioning of the green tea processing plant and would provide 20 tones of the Shinkiari green tea flush per annum for the processing of the tea for three years.