Workshop on Agriculture Production System Simulator Modeling concludes

Three-day workshop on Agriculture Production System Simulator Modeling APSIM arranged by US Pakistan Center for Advance Studies in Agriculture and Food Security (USPCAS-AFS), University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Thursday concluded in which 62 people across the country took part. Talking to participants, UAF Vice Chancellor said Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said climate changes provoke heavy floods, shrinking water resources and weather changes that are responsible for a loss of billions of rupees to the national economy. He said that farming community could face cut their income due to low productivity if we don’t take adaptive measures. He said that public awareness, and joint effort on the part of all stakeholders were essential to fight the challenges. CAS Chief of Party Dr Bashir Ahmad said that the purpose of this workshop was to train and professionalize trainees with the tool of capacity building, applied research and curriculum reforms how to control climate change. He added there will be more workshops related to climate change for controlling adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Dean Faculty of Agriculture, UAF Dr Riaz Ahmad said that similarly the agriculture dependent economy of the country, which employs more than 45 percent of labor force, has suffered a lot especially in cultivation of cotton and wheat due to extreme weather events and massive change in climate change. Dr Ashfaq Ahmad Chattha said that USP-CAS said that by the end of the century the temperature will further rise. He said that heat tolerant and climate resistant varieties need to be developed to overcome the issue of food insecurity. He said they had made a proper network project by which they will collaborate with all expertise of climate change and share each other views. Certificates were distributed among all the participants.