Training workshop on "kitchen gardening, tunnel farming and bio-gas"

The University of Agriculture Faisalabad has set up a community service center at Chak No. 45 G.D. in order to address the issues of farming community at their doorstep. This center is established under the social component of Australian Agriculture Sector Linkages Programme (ASLP-2) and Canberra University Australia. It was stated at farmers’ training workshop titled ‘kitchen gardening, tunnel farming and bio-gas’ in which a large number of farmers and extension field staff participated. Earlier, the centre was inaugurated Institute of Horticultural Sciences Director Dr. Aslam Pervaiz, Director and District Officer (Agriculture Extension), Okara, Iqbal at the village. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Izhar Ahmad Khan, Department of Rural Sociology said that the centre will enlighten the farming community about the latest agriculture practices, innovations and technologies. He said that the centre had been set up by UAF in collaboration with Australian government (ACIAR) and Punjab Agriculture Department. He said the food security is one of the major concerns for the county. By equipping the farming community with latest methods, the productivity of the country can be increased manifold. Prof Dr Aslam Pervez urged the farming community to adopt the modern techniques in order to increase per acre production. He was of the view that the adoption of the state-of-the-art agricultural practices was essential to ensure the food security and to compete with the rest of the world. The centre will also help in alleviation of poverty from the region. He also suggested that farmers can save their money and earn more profit if they work collectively. Dr. Muhammad Ayub provided the details about the production technology of vegetables and emphasized that growing vegetables is need of the hour as population pressure is increasing day by day and farmers should grow their own vegetables to save money and earn profit. Dr. Anjum Munir form Faculty of Agri. Engineering said a model bio-gas plant was working at the university. He lauded the Punjab Government initiative to install bio-gas plant in various village of the Punjab. He said large bio-gas plants can also operate tube wells for six hours and small scale plants provide sufficient gas for household usage. Dr. Babar Shahbaz form Institute of Agriculture Extension and Rural Development said that mobile phone based advisory system will also be initiated in the near future for the farming community. He said that the UAF has initiated cyber extension, Zarai Baithak, to the farmers. With this initiative, agricultural experts and scientists can provide useful advisory services to the farmers through internet. He also told that mobile phone and SMS based advisory service will also be offered in the near future. Dr. Waseem told that tunnel farming is an emerging technology for growing off-season vegetable. Tunnel farming enables farmers to earn good profit with small investment. District Officer said that bio-gas, tunnel farming and cyber extension technologies are very beneficial for the farming community and Government of the Punjab is taking all possible measures to facilitate farmers with new technologies.