Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada said that now a day’s food security is one of the major challenges and emphasized that Pakistan needs to adopt new technologies to ensure food security for the public at large.

He stated this while visiting Indigenous Hydroponics system of  Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) here on Tuesday. PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, a large number of faculty members, students, farmers and researchers were also present on the occasion.

He urged that agriculture innovations, new varieties and all other technologies must be shared among the farmers to develop agriculture on modern lines. He appreciated the steps taken by PMAS-AAUR for making modern agricultural technology accessible to farmers so they can increase the yields of their crops.

He said the establishment of the first Indigenous Hydroponic/Soilless System of Pakistan by PMAS-AAUR would be a milestone in increasing the capability of agro-products. Federal Minister also appreciated consistent hard work of university to indigenous this very expensive technology to the adoptable level of our farming community.

Earlier, PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad briefed the Federal Minister that Hydroponics system is latest technique to produce safe, nutritious, delicious and high quality vegetables. Vice Chancellor said “Every year, Pakistan import vegetables from India. If the government takes an interest in promoting these new technologies, we would not need to import from other countries. In fact, the country could earn a lot of foreign exchange by exporting to other countries, he added.” Vice Chancellor further said that a conventional farmer gets 5-6 tonnes yield of vegetables from per acre of land but we are yielding 300 tonnes per acre at this PMAS-AAUR Rawat farms through hydroponic system.