Australian Scientists Dr. John Spriggs and Dr. Sandra H Mustafa call on UAF Vice Chancellor Dr. Iqrar A Khan in his chamber

Australian and Pakistani Scientists were striving for boost the productivity of Mango, citrus and Dairy in order to fulfill the dream of poverty alleviation and rural development of the country. This was stated by Dr. John Spriggs Professor of Australian Institute for Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra, while addressing the participants of Australia Pakistan Agriculture Sector Linkages Program (ASLP ii) research group meeting at Syndicate Hall of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad on Friday morning. He said that horticultural and dairy sectors of Pakistan have great productivity potential which is not being exploited as per capacity. He emphasized the scientists to device farmer’s friendly solutions and packages .He maintained that ASLP ii Project will provide guideline towards the destination of Prosperity and Rural Development. He was of the view that this 3-years duration Project has been initiated in under developed areas of Sindh and Punjab provinces. Earlier UAF Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that UAF has become a favorite destiny for Internationalization. He added that many joint research projects are being undertaken with the collaboration of various educational and research institutions of developed nations of the world. He stressed the need for more mutual cooperation with Australia in the fields of water conservation and renewable energy. Prof. Dr. Sandra Heaney Mustafa told the participants that base line survey has been finalized and further planning is underway on the basis of generated data. She said that workshops would be conducted in rural areas of both Province during January 2013. Prof. Dr. Amaan Malik, Dr Izhar Ahmad Khan, Dr. Babar Shahbaz from UAF,Nadeem Akbar, Hasnain Shah and Tabinda Qaisar from National Agricultural Research Council and others attended the meeting.