Agriculture, like all other sectors of the economy, should be upgraded to modern scientific and technological standards. Scientific innovations in the fields of biology, plant science and machinery should be readily adopted to make agriculture sector a sustainable one. Food insecurity, climate change, and decreasing levels of water availability make it necessary to transform agriculture using knowledge of the relevant fields.

President Arif Alvi made the remarks while inaugurating “Natural Agri-Innovation Centre” near the Sahianwala Interchange here on Thursday. He stressed the need for population control and said that because of human interventions balance in the nature is shifting for the worse. “We need to urgently tackle this problem by creating awareness among the masses to alter their reproductive behaviours,” he said.

He highlighted the efforts of the previous federal government to fight climate change. He mentioned the billion-tree tsunami campaign aimed at increasing the forest cover of the country so that natural habitat of millions of species could be protected. He said that advanced economies of the world had started to use drip and sprinkle irrigation systems, which drastically reduced the amount of water in irrigation. Since Pakistan’s largest crop is cotton, the most fresh-water intensive crop, the country urgently need to use these modern systems of irrigation.

Moreover, the use of genetic engineering in developing high yielding seeds is also very important. “We need to make full use of science and innovation. The Netherlands is a country smaller than Pakistan, but because of its innovative methods and determination to become a net exporter of food products, it has now successfully become the second largest food exporter in the world. We need to develop high yielding, disease and heat-resistant species of seeds,” he continued.

“We need to have the capacity to store water from the glaciers. A large amount of water that comes into our rivers flows outward into the sea. We need to build small and large dams to make sure that we have water saved for irrigation and domestic-use purposes. Storing water will also replenish the underground water levels which comes out of tube wells and water motors installed in our homes. 158 million acres-feet of water comes down from the glaciers of which only 4 million acre-feet needs to be let into the sea to avoid salination. The rest of the water can be saved for economic purposes,” he said.

He said farmers need to make use of artificial intelligence to grow crops best suited for their soil quality. Hydroponic crops should also be grown here. Tube wells should be converted to solar power. Farmers should diversify their crop portfolio. In addition to growing major crops, they also need to grow small vegetables. Floriculture is another emerging phenomenon that farmers should have knowledge of.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Hussain Jahania Gardezi was directed by the President to set key performing indicators to analyse the performance of agriculture sector. He told him to establish at least 500-600 modern agriculture farms. Thereafter, farming community should be invited to such modern farms where they could be trained and told about new agriculture techniques and crop varieties.

Hussain Jahania Gardezi for his part welcomed the President and said that “agriculture sector needs a lot of investment on public-private-partnership model to switch from primitive farming methods to the hi-tech agriculture. We need to promote high and low tunnels, particularly for vegetable farming, to meet our increasing needs.”

Malik Amin Aslam Khan said that “environmental change could spell disaster for our agriculture sector. We need to change our ways of farming. We need to adopt technology and modern methods to be resilient and ready for any environmental eventuality.” Pakistan, he said, is one of the top three countries at risk of environmental collapse. “We need to adopt smart methods to protect our agriculture.” He also praised the adoption of cutting-edge technology at Natural Farms.

Waseem Afzal, chairman of Naturals Farms, welcomed the guests and told them about the latest Dutch model technology used in that farm spreading over 2.5 acres of land. Alvi formally inaugurated the farm by planting a sapling. He took a tour of the farm where he observed the modern technology and their adoption methods.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk