Shazia Tahir
RAWALPINDI, (Parliament Times) : A delegation of Progressive Farmers of Balochistan under the leadership of Director Muhammad Shakeel and Deputy Director Abdul Salam visited Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi on Tuesday and met with the Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman.
The main purpose of the delegation was to aware of the modern agricultural research and steps taken to develop agriculture on modern lines.
While highlighting the important projects of the University, steps being taken to modernize the agriculture sector and strengthening academia-industry linkages, Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman said that University has started projects worth billions of rupees with government and private sector during corona pandemic.
He said that recently the university has also inaugurated a smart IoT farm where farmers are being given awareness and hands-on training on modern agricultural technologies, especially precision agriculture, drone technology and modern agricultural equipments which enabled them to achieved substantial growth by reducing their agricultural costs.
He welcomed the visit of the delegation of Progressive Farmers and said that such visits can play a key role in modernizing the agricultural sector and strengthening academia-industry linkages in Pakistan.
The delegation has also visited various laboratories equipped with modern equipments, smart IoT farm, hydroponics unit and food technology lab under the leadership of Dean Agriculture Prof. Dr. Muhammad Naeem and Director IFNS Prof. Dr. Anwar Ahmed.
On this occasion, the delegation said that they have visited almost all the agricultural institutions of Pakistan, but the efforts regarding the modern agricultural sector under the leadership of the Vice Chancellor of Arid University, Rawalpindi impressed them a lot. The delegation also thanked the university administration for their full cooperation and excellent hospitality.