He addressed the Dean and Directors meeting at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in which UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan also spoke.

Asad Rehman Gillani said that climate changes, post-harvest losses and a lack of mechanization were creating hurdles to get benefit from our potential. He said that the government was taking all possible measures to enhance the productivity and strengthen the agriculture sector which is a backbone of our economy. He also lauded the efforts of the UAF for the combating the agricultural issues and giving out-of-the-box solutions.

He added amid the different challenges including Covid and locust attacks, the country GDP size has squeezed from $330 billion to $280 billion. He said that government had set a production target of 27.03 million tons in 2020. Whereas overall, wheat production stood at 25.50 million tons due to changing climate and unexpended rains. He said that the country continued facing a massive decline in cotton production for some years. At present, our cotton bales production ranges around 6 million bales that was 13 million bales previously.

He urged the agricultural experts to develop viable solutions to problems of agricultural sector to increase productivity, value addition, mechanization, post-harvest and others. He said that the affordable technologies must be developed to redress the grievance of the farming community.

Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that around half of our population was in the grip of malnutrition. We have to promote a blend of wheat with other cereals including maize, etc that will help improve the nutrition issues at the national level. He said that the UAF has developed vision 2030 to meet the demands and challenges of the era. He said the UAF was working on the germplasm that will make it climate resilient. He added that the UAF was collaborating with University of Florida to bring the breakthrough in the strawberry by making its production adoptable in the chilling neutral environment. He showed his concern that the university competitive grant ongoing portfolio had decreased manifold. However, administrative measurers were being taken to motivate the faculty to regain our portfolio. He lauded the efforts of the government to promote the backyard poultry that will ultimately help improve the health conditions and a step towards poverty alleviation. He said that the unmanned system drone technology can be used to fight the locust issue. He also visited the different laboratories including Soil Lab, Horticulture Lab, Solar Park, Center for Advanced Studies in agriculture and food security, Event coordinator Prof Dr Jalal Arif briefed about the Pink Boll Worm, whitefly, army fall worm, and others. He said two PARB projects on the PBW and army fall worm were underway to minimize its effects. Director Research Prof Dr Zahir Ahmad Zahir said that the UAF is ranked among the top 100 world top category in the subject category. Deans Prof Dr Javed Athkar, Prof Dr Zafar Qureshi, Prof Dr Aslam Mirza, Prof Dr Asgher Bajwa, Prof Dr Sarfraz Hassan, Prof Dr Masood Sadiq Butt, Prof Dr Allah Buksh, Professor of Entomology and Principal Officer PRP Dr Jalal Arif, and Prof Amanullah Malik also spoke.