Seminar on On-Farm Water Management

The food security needs to be ensured by adopting approaches of Norman Borlaug, noble peace prize winner and the father of Green Revolution, in order to feed the growing population of the world. It was stated by University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan while addressing the seminar titled on-farm water management arranged by Water Management Research Institute held in connection with paying tribute to Borlaug on his 100 years birth anniversary. Paying rich tribute to Borlaug, the Vice Chancellor said that Borlaug developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties. During the mid-20th century, Borlaug introduced these high-production varieties to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. As a result, Mexico became a wheat exporter of by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India. Borlaug is credited to save millions of people worldwide from starvation. Norman Borlaug was decorated with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions for food security. Dr Jose L Chavez from Carolina States University, USA said that the implementation of irrigation computer model was showing the declining trend in USA. He said that people in USA are attracting towards traditional way of irrigations. WMRC Director Prof Dr Allah Buksh said that the water scarcity is area of the major concerns for the country. He said that tangible steps are needed to address the issue at the national level by giving awareness among the masses. He said that modern irrigation model was imperative to water the crop with the saving . He said that UAF has developed the bed plantation technology which saves the water by 50 percent.