Shazia Tahir
RAWALPINDI, (Parliament Times) : Pakistan Postharvest losses of food are around 30 percent, leaving 80 million tons of fruit and vegetables loss yearly. Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman
A Nigerian delegation visited PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi for the capacity building of food processing in fruits and vegetables.
In his welcome address Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman the Vice-Chancellor of PMAS-AAUR while highlighting the bilateral relationship between Pakistan & Nigeria, and emphasized the importance of the agricultural sector for both countries by referring it as the backbone of the economy. He said that postharvest losses of food which are around 30 percent, leaving 80 million tons of fruit and vegetables lost are very high, in order to overcome the losses we need to be more focused on improving productivity, preservation, and supply chain from farm to fork. “I believe that Nigerian and Pakistani experts will discuss what needs to happen in order to reduce these post-harvest losses”, he said. He further added that PMAS-AAUR can help Nigeria in Precision Agriculture field as it has stat of the art Center for Precision Agriculture.
While appreciating the efforts of PMAS-AAUR particularly IFNS, COMSTECH and Islamic Development Bank for holding such an exceptional event Mrs. Asabe Mustafa the Coordinator of the Nigerian delegate hoped the presentation from IFNS experts and the food processing industry visits will be beneficial for Nigeria to develop new policies to overcome the challenges faced to her country’s agriculture sector.
Earlier, Prof. Dr. Anwar Ahmed, Director IFNS while welcoming the Nigerian delegation, said that today is a very important day for further enhancing relations and cooperation between the two countries. He said that this policy dialogue will not only provide the opportunities to highlight the issues related to agriculture sector but also help in formulating a clear strategy to address them in future.
