Punjab Governor, Muhammad Balighur Rehman, presided over a review meeting regarding improving seed quality in the agriculture sector here at Governor House Lahore today. The meeting was attended by members of the committee set up to improve seed quality.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Punjab Muhammad Balighur Rahman said that agriculture has a huge share in the economy of the country and it is the main pillar of the economy. He said that there is a need to improve the quality of seeds of agricultural produce to increase the production of the agricultural sector. He said that in order to improve the quality of agricultural seeds, there is a need to use technology and adopt the practices being used at the international level. Governor Punjab said that the private sector, government sector and universities should speed up the process of research in the field of agriculture. He said that improving the quality of seeds will increase the production of profitable agricultural crops. Governor Punjab said that it is very important to provide a conducive environment to the people associated with the seed industry to increase the production of agricultural produce. On this occasion, Governor Punjab also directed to form three sub-committees for rice, cotton and other small seeds respectively to formulate recommendations for improving the quality of seeds.
On this occasion, the members of the Seed Committee said that better results can be obtained by including the representatives of the industry in the consultative process of policies of the government with regards to seeds and agricultural produce. They also suggested that there is a need to formulate GM seed policy. In the meeting, Chief Executive Punjab Agriculture Research Board Lahore Dr. Abid Mahmood, Dean Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Punjab University, Dr. Saleem Haider and members of the committee related to agriculture and seed industry, Shehzad Ali Malik ,Guard Agriculture Research and Services, Jawed Qureshi, Four Brothers Seeds Corporation, Dr. Khalid Hameed, Chairman Tara Group, Pakistan, Tahir Salimi,Haji Sons, Muhammad Asim, Bayer Pakistan Limited, Shafiqur Rehman,Kisan Seed Corporation and Dr. Shafiq,Suncrop Group were present.