A delegation headed by College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan President Dr. Zafarullah Ch. visited UAF

Pakistan was lagging far behind in tunnel farming as the country can earn heavy amount of money by investing in it as the country is blessed with four seasons and with the use of tunnel farming, we could harvest high value crops, said University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan. He was talking to a delegation headed by College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan President Dr Zafarullah Ch while other members of delegation included Prof Dr Asghar Butt and Dr Shahzad. Principal Officer Public Relations and Publication Prof Dr Jalal Arif was also present. The Vice Chancellor said the tunnel cultivation is also helpful for the development of floriculture, which has vast scope for exports earning reasonable. He said that a certain temperature is required in the tunnel to grow vegetables cultivated in different seasons on the general farms. He said that although, Pakistan was enjoying good tropical situation, but lack of value chain and marketing were main hurdles for the progress in the field. He said that the country was facing 20 to 40 per cent post-harvest losses that must be curtailed for getting development in the field. Talking about the university, he told that UAF had clinched the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) award for science and technology for its outstanding contribution to the given field. The UAF has earned this distinction out of 72 applicant institutions, who had claimed to make outstanding contribution to scientific field. Dr Zafarullah Ch said that there was a lot of scope in the tunnel farming and with it, the country can generate heavy foreign revenue that would help uplift standards of the lives of farmers and alleviating poverty. He said that unfortunately, a common farmer was unaware the modern agricultural practices. The modern methods help increase the productivity manifold. He said the college a unique postgraduate medical institution in Asia that was set up 50 years ago. It is aimed at promoting specialist medical practice.