FAISALABAD: Punjab Governor Rafique Ahmed Rajwana says he will forward a proposal to the government to declare Faisalabad a `knowledge city’.

He was chairing the 43rd meeting of the University of Agriculture senate on Thursday which approved Rs8.6 billion budget for the 2016-17 fiscal.

Mr Rajwana said the commissioner was also striving to get Faisalabad declared as ‘science city’ due to a number of science institutions here. He said agriculture was the backbone of the country’s economy as it’s share in the gross domestic product was 21pc.

“The government is taking all possible steps to address the issues of farming community and ensuring quality education that will help Pakistan fight multiple challenges.”

Local admin striving for ‘science city’ tag

The governor stressed that the government was committed to serving the common man to improve his livelihood and food security was the top agenda of its policies. The government introduced the Kissan Package and increased amount of loans for farming community that was a good step to ensure food security, he added.

Mr Rajwana said that to redress the grievances of the cotton growers about unavailability of seed the government would improve the relevant system through legislation.

“Cotton crop is the mainstay to our agrarian economy and the government is paying its full attention to support the cotton growers, ensuring availability of quality seed as well as fair prices of their output.”

UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad said the country had abundant food but most of its population was malnourished which was due to unhealthy lifestyle and dependency on two crops.

“The UAF has developed a new variety of cotton which grows in short duration and is climate resilient. It has also identified nine new varieties of mangoes out of 500 germplasm that would bring tangible results.”

The VC said the UAF was working on hybrid seeds of wheat and maize that would result in better productivity.

The Senate also elected Dr Ijaz Bhatti and Dr Tahira Iqbal as members of the syndicate for three years.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2016