USAID funded Centre of Excellence in Advanced Studies will be set up at the UAF

USAID funded Centre of Excellence in Advanced Studies will be set up at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in order to strengthen advanced learning and research innovation in the field of agricultural and allied disciplines. This was stated by University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan while talking to a delegation 34 diplomats from 22 countries from Foreign Services Academy, Islamabad at Syndicate Hall, UAF. The Academy, Director Dr Ali Ahmad Araaien led the team. He said that Centre of Excellence in Agriculture and Turkish Extension Centre by Turkish International Cooperative and Development Agency (TIKA )are also under consideration that might be established at the campus. Talking about agriculture, he said although Pakistan has achieved its best cotton production of 14 million bales, raw material to textile sector, this year but the power crisis is badly affecting the sector. He said that Punjab was having a lion share in production with 12 million bales of cotton whereas situation in Sindh remained grim because of floods. The Vice Chancellor said cotton is the main cash crop which contributes significantly to the national economy, contributing 6.9 percent of value-added in agriculture and 1.4 percent in Gross Domestic Product. In addition to providing raw material to the local textile industry, the lint cotton is an export item, he added. Talking about water crisis, the Vice Chancellor said that our dams had the storage capacity only12 MAF while we were losing 140 MAF of water in a year by dumping into the Arabian Sea or in the shape of floods, playing havoc with lives, agriculture, livestock and infrastructure of the country. He stressed the need to increase water storage capacity of the country to meet the demand of electricity and agriculture sector. He said water crisis in Pakistan was hampering the process of development in agricultural sector as Pakistan was the worst affected by the crisis. He also called for sensitizing the farming community about the water issue by shunning the flood irrigation method with the adoption of drip irrigation method. He said that it was a matter of pride for us that in 80s, our cotton production had comprised only 3 million bales that increased manifold now in the span of the few decades. He said that Pakistan was standing at number 4 in the productivity of wheat and cotton across the globe. Punjab was having a lion share in the crops, he said. Talking about corn productivity, he said: “the corn production was 15 maunds per acre a decade ago but now it had jumped to 150 maunds per acre, thanks to the efforts made on the part of agricultural scientists”. He told the delegation that the UAF was ranked best university in Q&S across the country according to the ranking of Higher Education Commission. The FSA director said that they came under training programme to know the agricultural situation of Pakistan. He said the Academy was established in September 1981. It has arranged 62 courses for the officers of foreign services and other departments of Pakistan and 56 courses for foreign diplomats. He said that diplomats of 81 countries had been trained at the academy.