Caretaker Punjab Agriculture Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas on Wednesday urged the agricultural scientists to enhance their role for the promotion of latest agricultural practices and to increase per acre production.

He was addressing UAF deans and directors meeting and inaugural ceremony of multi-authored books developed by Endowment Fund Secretariat at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad.
Addressing on the occasion, he said that tangible researches based on problems of farming community and agricultural sector were the need of the hour. He stressed upon to take measures in order to ensure quality education and research work that will ultimately improve the position in the international ranking. He said mechanized agriculture coupled with reversed engineering as per domestic needs was vital to feed the ever increasing population. He said the country was blessed with the talented people. There is a need to sharpen their skills so that the challenges of modern era can be met effectively.
He hoped time will come when we will be able to attract international students from developed nations in our universities particularly UAF. He said that agriculture was the backbone of our economy and contributing 20 percent to Gross Domestic Product.
Giving briefing, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences Dean Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal Randhawa said agriculture sector was facing the different challenges including depleting water resources, low per acre agricultural yields, climate changes, lack of awareness about latest agriculture tools and others.
He said that the UAF was only institution in the country which is ranked among top 100 universities of the globe. He said that the university was offering courses in 175 disciplines and had produced manpower more than 75,000 graduates so far. He said that the UAF was running research projects worth Rs 2.5 billion with the special focus on the issues of agriculture and rural development. He said that university had developed relations across the globe and domestically. It has inked 150 Memorandum of Understanding.
Former Vice Chancellor and Director Center for Advanced Studies Agricultrue and Food Security) Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said they had achieved another milestone by writing 25 books based on agriculture in which 262 UAF scientists and 66 foreign experts had penned down the articles. He said that only in the period of six months, it has gained many 34000 downloads globally. Its popularity is gaining momentum with each passing day. He said that the project was funded by Endowment Fund Secretariat. He added that such initiatives would open up new avenues of progress and prosperity for the country. He said that e-books are being published in paper version so that students and readers can get benefit from it in the paper form also. It is ever first project at this massive level by any university in the country .He added that we cannot ensure food and nutrition security without adopting new methods and techniques.
Registrar Muhammad Hussain, Treasurer Tariq Saeed, Endowment Fund Secretariat Executive Director Dr Jaffar Jaskani and Director Research Dr Zahir Ahmad Zahir also spoke. They also visited the different labs.