ISLAMABAD, March 31: Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bosan here on Thursday said Pakistan was all set to enter the era of genetically-modified cotton. He was speaking at the concluding session of an international conference on ? Biotechnology for Salinity and Drought Tolerance in Plant?. The four-day event had been organized by the National Commission on Biotechnology (NCB) in collaboration with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), United States National Science Foundation (USNSF), Comstech, and Higher Education Commission.
As many as 45 national and international scientists exchanged views regarding measures to fight back the disastrous effects of salinity on crops and come up with drought mitigation strategy.
Mr Bosan said the developments made in cotton biotechnology by the country?s scientists were quite impressive and that Pakistan was set to enter the era of genetically-modified cotton once the bio-safety guidelines, to be issued by the Ministry of Environment, were put in place.
The minister said six million hactares in Pakistan were affected by salinity and water logging, owing to which 25 per cent productivity of crops had been affected. Biotechnology, he said, was the only solution to the problem.
He said during the last four years of persistent drought, the canal water availability had reduced by 45 per cent, resulting into billions of rupees losses. This situation posed a formidable challenge to the country?s scientists to come with a solution.
Mr Bosan said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had instructed the Ministry of Environment to finalize the bio-safety guidelines so that different transgenic crops varieties evolved through our research could be released for commercial multiplication.
He said during the last few years, the government had spent about Rs600 million on education and research on biotechnology. In his welcome speech, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, NCB secretary and PAEC member Bio-Sciences, said the conference had evoked enthusiastic participation by international scientists.
Dr Kausar said overall 45 presentations were made in the conference with 18 coming from foreign scientists. This international moot will be made a permanent feature to consolidate gains from long-term collaboration.
USNSF representative Prof Roberto said he was impressed by the professionalism of Pakistani scientists and the availability of various facilities when he visited the PAEC?s National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad.
As many as 45 national and international scientists exchanged views regarding measures to fight back the disastrous effects of salinity on crops and come up with drought mitigation strategy.
Mr Bosan said the developments made in cotton biotechnology by the country?s scientists were quite impressive and that Pakistan was set to enter the era of genetically-modified cotton once the bio-safety guidelines, to be issued by the Ministry of Environment, were put in place.
The minister said six million hactares in Pakistan were affected by salinity and water logging, owing to which 25 per cent productivity of crops had been affected. Biotechnology, he said, was the only solution to the problem.
He said during the last four years of persistent drought, the canal water availability had reduced by 45 per cent, resulting into billions of rupees losses. This situation posed a formidable challenge to the country?s scientists to come with a solution.
Mr Bosan said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had instructed the Ministry of Environment to finalize the bio-safety guidelines so that different transgenic crops varieties evolved through our research could be released for commercial multiplication.
He said during the last few years, the government had spent about Rs600 million on education and research on biotechnology. In his welcome speech, Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, NCB secretary and PAEC member Bio-Sciences, said the conference had evoked enthusiastic participation by international scientists.
Dr Kausar said overall 45 presentations were made in the conference with 18 coming from foreign scientists. This international moot will be made a permanent feature to consolidate gains from long-term collaboration.
USNSF representative Prof Roberto said he was impressed by the professionalism of Pakistani scientists and the availability of various facilities when he visited the PAEC?s National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad.