Regional Agricultural Forum meeting.

FAISALABAD March 11: Regional Agricultural Forum meeting is mapping out a comprehensive plan to devise crop-wise agricultural policy; jointly work on climate-resilient agriculture; establish demonstration sites, agro ecological zone and value addition in order to raise productivity and make agriculture a profitable sector. The meeting was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zulfiqar Ali and attended by Chief Scientist Wheat AARI Dr Javed Ahmad, Chief Scientist Pulses AARI Dr Khalid Hussain, Director Agriculture Extension Fsd Khalid Mehmood, UAF Dean Agriculture Dr Ghulam Murtaza, Director Institute of Agriculture Extension UAF Dr Babar Shahbaz, Director Research Dr Sultan Habib Ullah , Chair Agriculture Policy Dr Asif Kamran, Director planning and development Irfan Abbas, Director Graduate Studies Dr Khalid Bashir, Dr Muhammad Aslam, Dr Umair Gul, Director Academic Dr Hafizah Shafia Tehseen Gul, and other notables. The meeting discussed and reviewed the ongoing development activities on wheat, maize, rice, sugarcane, cotton, pulses, citrus, fodder and others. The meeting noted that crop wise collaborative efforts on all stakeholders be enhanced and demonstration fields will be jointly set up to showcase the modern technology. The meeting also called for strong academic industry linkages, knowledge sharing, foster innovation and commercialization of research and development. Prof Dr Zulfiqar Ali said we have to enhance our effort on climate resilient agriculture, and promote the modern technologies among the farming community. He viewed that seeing is believing and the demonstration sites will bring tangible results. He added that increasing impact of climate changes on agriculture was posing a serious threat of food insecurity and we have to prepare ourselves to cope with the situation. He added the UAF has established seed processing plant from which other agricultural institutions should also get benefitted. He said that in the face of plant diseases, the role of agricultural scientists had enhanced to combat with latest techniques and tangible research work.