Additional Secretary Planning Agriculture Department, Lahore, Punjab Dr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan on Wednesday said that climate changes were a global issue for which collaborated efforts were needed to fight the challenge.

He was chairing Culmination Seminar on Series of DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agro-Technology Transfer) training sessions for Punjab Agriculture, Department. It was hosted by Climate Change research group, Department of Agronomy, UAF held in collaboration with Oxford policy management Ltd. and Action on Climate Today (ACT) funded by the DFID, UK. Th session was carried out under the project titled: Capacity building of Agriculture Department to use DSSAT for climate change Impact assessment on crops and development of adaptation strategies. Dr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan (Additional Secretary Planning, Agriculture Department, Lahore, Punjab) said that there was a huge different between the yields of average and progressive farmers. He added that the agriculture sector was facing different challenges for which we have to adopt latest technologies and to create awareness among the farming community. He identified the problems of miscommunication about agricultural development in media. He recommended to appoint a communication specialist in all departments of agriculture who can write articles about the current achievements in easy to understand language for farmers and cope with the rumors. He said that they had developed scheme of incentivizing the research scientists for rewarding on their achievements which has become part of gazette and also stressed to develop an incentive system to scientists working in universities as well. University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa showed his concern that that knowledge was not being transformed into goods and services. He added that the research work was piled up in the libraries that must be transformed into the goods and services. He said that many agricultural graduates were lacking in effective communication skills therefore special focus is needed to sharpen their communication that will help transfer the technology among the farmers. He elaborated the need to use the modeling and basic agronomic approaches to fill the gaps in production systems and fulfill the needs of the farming community in easy to understand language. Prof. Ashfaq Ahmad, Chair Climate Change Center for Advanced Studies University of Agriculture Faisalabad elaborated the salient features of the training and briefed the top management of agricultural research institutes about the achievements on climate change assessment and how the yield gaps of crops can be managed through the use of modern tools of crop modeling which can also give policy support which can be implemented by Govt. to support the vision of prime minister for the uplift of agricultural sector. Dr. Abid Mahmood (Director general, Ayub agricultural research institute, Faisalabad appreciated the resource person for capacity building of their staff and ensured his continued support by provision of more funds for training to the next batches. He said that they had developed varieties keeping the climate changes challenge in view. Training resource persons from University of Agriculture Dr. Syed Aftab Wajid, Dr. Tasneem Khaliq, Dr. Fahd Rasul, Dr. Khalid Hussain also spoke on the occasion. We have to transfer sufis narrative and thoughts to new generation to counter intolerance and ensure love, peace and harmony in the society, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa. He addressed the annual function of Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad at New Senate Hall, UAF. He said that there is a need to promote the literature among the students as in modern era, the students are more inclined to non-eastern culture and lifestyle etc. He urged the people to make their relation with Allah strong and illuminate their heart with the love of God and Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) to get success in world and life after death. He added that Sufis worked hard to educate the people about reality of life and work for spreading the message of Allah among the people with spiritualism. We should get the guideline from their lives and preaching to become a good Muslim and play our due role for the humanity. He said it was a matter of grave concern that we were giving up our mother tongue and polluting it with the words of other languages. We have to take the tangible measures to save our mother tongue from vanishing as a page from the past. He said we had to give the proper guidance to young generation about our religion and norms and values. He said that that saint Sufis including Baba Fared, Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu and others made tremendous contributions to spreading the message of Allah. He termed the poetry a light for the humanity and called for understanding it and applying it in our lives. He lauded the steps being taken on the part of the Department of Entomology not only for agriculture sector but also inculcating the Sufis preaching among the students. Entomology Department Chairman Dr Jalal Arif said that Punjab is the enriched in its culture, tradition and Sufis who worked hard to lighten the heart of the people with the love of Allah Subhanhotallh and His Last and Final Prophet Hazrart Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). He said that besides the academic work, they were putting special attention on extra curriculum activities for sharpening the skills of the students and to promote the eastern culture among them. He said that university was opening up new chapter of glory and progress under the dynamic leadership of the vice chancellor.