International Conference on Horticultural Sciences kicks off at UAF

The horticultural experts during an opening day of a three-day international conference on horticultural sciences have pledged to join hands meet the challenges of food insecurity by addressing the issues like diseases and viruses in fruits and vegetables, poor yield, unavailability of desired varieties, high post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables, low productivity and high cost of production, and lack of well-established information databases. The Conference was organized by Institute of Horticultural Sciences in collaboration with Pakistan Society of Horticultural Sciences, covered the theme of production challenges and food security. Addressing the inaugural session UAF VC Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the institution was created on the recommendations of the then famine commission of the colonial rulers in the subcontinent to arrest the growing hunger in the region but today the same hunger has engulfed a large segment of the human population as, in Pakistan, he said, more than 40 percent people were malnourished due to imbalance and nutrition-deficient food. He said food security is not a matter of calories intake but to ensure a balanced and nutrition food for all people. He said the country has plenty of citrus, mango, guava, date, banana and blessed with abundant vegetables but the farmer, on the other hand is not able to reap the benefits of his produces. He said over population has resulted in land, water and natural resources degradation that need to be preserved for the generations to come by adopting the efficient approaches. Describing the growing population and rapidly decreasing of natural resources, a daunting challenge, he stressed the need to sustain the food security arrangements. He hoped that during the conference, a plethora of knowledge and ideas would be presented and discussed to fetch the horticulture sector out of crises. Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said the country was ranked at 11th position in the extreme risk of the food security risk index which says that out of 190 million population of the country 35 million were under nourished. He said the situation needs special attention of the policy organs of the government and experts. Dr. Muhammad Saeed, in his keynote address, said that various factors like stagnation of productivity, growing food price surge, increasing poverty, growing incidence of food related diseases, high dependence on imported food are affecting the food security. He urged the participants to improve the water use efficiency and conservation, seed production/supply and access to new seeds, enhancing agriculture credit outreach and more allocation for credit and introduction of crop insurance schemes, and to make sustainable arrangements for promotion of horticulture production and marketing. Dr Muhammad Amjad, Director, Institute of Horticultural Sciences in his welcome address, said the whole supply chain of horticultural crops needs to be examined to minimize the post-harvest losses. He said importance of horticulture in daily life of humans cannot be denied. He further said that fruits and vegetables were playing important role in balancing the human diet by providing energy-rich food and important vitamins and minerals. The conference, he said, will address issues which include nursery management, biodiversity and conservation breeding and biotechnology, organic and protected horticulture, production and management of horticulture crops plant protection and stress management, plant nutrition and water management, mushroom technology, postharvest management, marketing and economies of various horticultural produces. on Inaugural day, Dr. Babar E Bajwa, Dr Byung-Soo Kim, and Dr. Muhammad Shafiq also spoke on the occasion. International delegates from USA, India, Australia, Korea, China and experts from across the country including Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, University of the Punjab, University of Sarghodha, University of Peshawar, University of Haripur, Islamia University Bahawalpur, BZU, Karachi University and research organizations are also participating in the conference.