PESHAWAR
\nPakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR)\u2019s experts and speakers of various departments here Thursday said that adaptation of innovative techniques and vertical agriculture farming was imperative for increasing food production in the country.
\nThese views were expressed during a one day seminar on \u2018adaptation of innovative techniques for agro-food production and value addition\u2019 organized by PCSIR here.
\nDirector General, PCSIR, Jahangir Shah said that vertical agriculture farming has made deep inroads in countries including Japan and Pakistan\u2019s with a population of around 240 million could also benefit from it enormously.
\nHe said that agricultural land was reducing due to the high population bulge in the country and vertical farming was the best option to achieve autarky in food. \u201cWe can easily obtain about 15,000 ton vegetables and fruits from one kanal\u2019s land through vertical farming procedure,\u201d he said, adding normally 55,000 plants came in one layer and 110,000 in second layer and so on,\u201d he said, adding approximately, vertical plantation were made in nine layers, which means that 495,000 fruits and vegetable plants could be achieved per season after making only 10 million investment,\u201d he said.
\nPCSIR, Peshawar had introduced vertical farming techniques on five kanal land under a public sector development program (PSDP) project titled \u2018research, development and innovation\u2019 under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Islamabad with enormous success.
\nDr Jahangir Shah said that utilization of indigenous resources was vital for the development and promotion of industrial and agriculture sectors besides export enhancement, adding the demand driven science and technology research and skilled human resources development through specialized training largely contribute to industrialization and socioeconomic growth of the country.
\nFaud Ishaq, President Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) while praising services of PCSIR in the country\u2019s development said that Pakistan was blessed with all resources including manpower, hydel, water, sea, rivers, mines and minerals if properly utilized can bring huge economic laurels.
\nHe said that precious water of rivers was being wasted due to lack of dams and suggested adaptation of drip irrigation practices to bring arid land under agriculture cover.
\nAssuring support to PCSIR, he said that SCCI was ready to promote newly invented products for the benefit of people.
\nSirtaj Ahmad Khan, coordinator, Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry suggested strengthening of research, development and innovation (RDI) departments in public sector departments and universities besides increasing the volume of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan for mutual benefits of both countries.
\nDr Sarwat Ismail of PCSIR Islamabad said that today\u2019s seminar was aimed to create awareness among people and farmers about its scope and achievements. Engr Javed Iqbal Khattak, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Executive Officer KP Economic Zones Development and Management Company said that work on agriculture economic zone at Daraband in DI Khan on 3,125 acres was started with assistance of Kuwait\u2019s company, adding 1,000 acres were allocated for processing and 2,125 acres for agriculture produce. He assured full cooperation to PCSIR.
\nThe delegation of Afghanistan, academia, researchers and traders besides scientists attended in large numbers. Later, shields and certificates were distributed among experts and students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR)\u2019s experts and speakers of various departments here Thursday said that adaptation of innovative techniques and vertical agriculture farming was imperative for increasing food production in the country. These views were expressed during a one day seminar on \u2018adaptation of innovative techniques for agro-food production and value […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-377415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n