Serious challenges such as the scarcity of food in an agricultural country can be solved by creating awareness among farmers to use latest technology to increase the food yield, University of Karachi (KU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Pirzada Qasim said on Saturday.
“Pakistan is blessed with abundance of natural resources and manpower. The need of the day is to utilise them in an appropriate way,” he said, while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a five-day workshop titled “Green Spin in Biotechnology” organised by Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE) in its auditorium.
Former National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) director general Dr Syed Hasan Mujtaba Naqvi, in his keynote address, informed the audience that Pakistan produces 22 million tonnes of wheat which is more than Africa (20.3 million) and about as much as South America (24.4 million). In addition to this, it is Asia’s third largest cotton, milk and onion market, second largest ‘ghee’ market and the largest camel market. “Efforts should be directed at increase in agricultural production, we need to add value in our export by refining them from raw material to a refined product. Bio-technology can play tremendous role in this matter. With the help of study in this area we will be able to produce edible oils, at the cost of which, Pakistan spend huge foreign exchange,” he said.
Faculty of Science Dean Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi, in her concluding remarks, declared the current era as the ‘Era of Molecular Biotechnology’. “We need to identify salt tolerant genes and workshops like this must be a great source of learning in that direction,” she advised the researchers in the audience.
