Pak, Indonesia can Work to Boost Agriculture

A ten member high level delegation headed by Prof. Dr. Herry Suhardiyanto, from Bogor University Indonesia including Kusdiana, Counselor, Indonesian Embassy at Islamabad called on the Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Dr. Muhammad Afzal at the PARC Headquarters. All the Technical Members of the PARC were also present.Briefing the delegation Dr. Muhammad Afzal apprized them the mandated activities of the PARC that includes undertake, aid, promote and coordinate agricultural research, arrange expeditious utilization of research results, establish research establishments mainly to fill in the gaps in existing programs of agricultural research, arrange the training of high level scientific manpower in agricultural sciences, generate, acquire and disseminate information relating to agriculture and establish and maintain a reference and research library.Dr. Muhammad Afzal informed the delegation about the major areas which include crops, horticulture, agricultural biotechnology, farm mechanization, natural resources, animal sciences, social sciences. PARC in collaboration with provincial institutes developed various varieties of wheat, rice, pulses, maize, sorghum, millet, fodder, cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds and horticultural crops. Dr. Muhammad Afzal also apprized the delegation PARC Agro-tech Trading Company (PATCO), to patent and commercialize the technologies, services and products developed and provided by the agricultural scientists.Dr. Afzal also informed the delegation that PARC has been working to enhance indigenous tea production in the country since long. As a result of sustained efforts, the Council has established a big tea plant nursery and tea plantation has been established on more than 400 acres at farmers’ fields. Farm Machinery Institute (FMI) under PARC has designed, developed and modified variety of farm mechanization technologies and transferred to private sector for mass production.