Islamabad, (Parliament Times) : Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) is conducting an exposure visit of the members of National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security & Research (NFSR) to acquaint the committee about on-going R&D activities, new interventions / achievements of the PARC’s research establishments located in Gilgit Baltistan & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On visit of the Committee headed by Rao Ajmal Khan at Potato Tissue Culture Laboratory established by PARC at Chillas, the members were informed by Dr. Muhammad Azeem Khan Chairman PARC about the production of various potato varieties through tissue culture. The Chairman told that PARC is seeking the production of potato tubers locally, that will save valuable foreign exchange as around 15000 tons seed was imported by spending one billion annually however as a result of strong public-private partnership in locally certified potato production through technical assistance, it’s import has been reduced.
The committee was also told that PARC has been able to increase the production of disease free potato seeds through tissue culture technique as per capacity of its cold storage, after which for the first time in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chilas a potato tissue culture laboratory has been set up to provide disease free potato seeds to the farmers so that the farmers can become self-sufficient and economically stable by getting maximum potato production in less time.
Chairman PARC on the occasion also expressed that we will take all possible steps to increase the productivity of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and vegetables to make farmers of the area self-sufficient. The Committee appreciated the efforts of PARC for better agricultural yields.
