Punjab Livestock chairman visits Experiment Station
Lahore (Staff Reporter): Chairman Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Board, Syed Yawar Ali has visited Livestock Experiment Station (LES), Khizerabad, Sargodha to examine the ongoing activities and development projects at farm here on yesterday. He visited all departments of the LES Farm and appreciated the staff on rapid growth. Chief Operating Officer, PLDDB, Muhammad Farooq briefed the Chairman about all projects. Chairman also visited the mechanized fodder cutting site and urged the staff to make it more advanced. He also visited newly established Genetic Improvement Center at LESwhere he was briefed by Lab In-charge Dr Naimat-u-llah.
While discussing about Sahiwali cow, he said that this breed is our national asset and we had planned to preserve and upgrade this breed through Research & Development so that we could get good milk and meat production through our local breed.
GM Silage project M. Zahoor Ahmad and other officers were also with the Chairman. Syed Yawar Ali also gave on spot ordered on different occasions to improve the farm condition.

PITB, Etohum of Turkey sign MoU to empower entrepreneurs
Lahore (Staff Reporter): Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Turkey’s largest accelerator Etohum, will strengthen our accelerator PlanX opening new windows of mutual collaboration for startup entrepreneurs of both the countries. This was expressed by the Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr. Umar Saif on the occasion of signing the said MoU with Etohum’s founder Mr. Burak Buyukdemir today. “The MoU will enable exchange of ideas, trainings, experience and knowledge on both sides in future. Moreover, Etohum will make investment in the PITB’s initiated first ever Government Backed Venture Capital Fund of Pakistan.”
Marking the event as a great success in attracting foreign investors, Dr. Saif said that PITB had moved in right direction to revive the trust of investors that was badly shaken by terrorism and worse security issues in Pakistan.
Burak Buyukdemir told that the Etohum was a seed investor organization in Turkey that selects 40 startups every year, trains, mentors and invests startups every year. He told that the Etohum sets up a market place where investors can get together with entrepreneurs, supplies new economy entrepreneurs with coaching and the required information, forms a creative, energetic, educated and skillful human resource pool within the internet market and creates a business culture that is supportive to the new internet venture.

NFDC reports 28pc decline in urea sales
Lahore (Staff Reporter): The National Fertilizer Development Centre has reported 28 per cent monthly decline in country’s urea sales to 456,000 tons. Experts attribute this fall to the lower seasonal demand. However, on year on year basis, urea sales are up by 20 per cent because of delayed Rabi season this year. On DAP front, sales witnessed 12 per cent MoM fall to 64k tons which to chiefly blamed to low imported DAP sales by FFC. On a YoY basis, Feb’15 DAP sales fell by 33 per cent.  On company wise basis, urea sales of FFC, EFERT and FATIMA went down by 21 per cent/12 per cent/21 per cent monthly to 184k/148k/31k tons during Feb 2015, respectively.
However, DAWH and FFBL plant remained idle owing to non-availability of gas while urea sales by NFML (Imported Urea) witnessed a sharp fall of 50 per cent to 93k tons. On the other hand, lower DAP sales by FFC (imported DAP) mitigated for the 3 per cent MoM higher FFBL sales to 29k tons and 68 per cent more Engro sales to 17k tons. At the end of Feb 2015, industry inventory levels remained at 155k tons for urea out of which NFML holds 131k tons.

RCCI organising first ICT Awards on April 8th
RAWALPINDI (APP): The RCCI is organizing first ICT Awards (International Communication Technology Awards) on April 8 at Aiwan-i-Quaid, F-9 Park Islamabad. Rawalpindi Chamber is the only Chamber of the country arranging such awards talking to APP, the Senior Vice President Rawalpindi Chamber Mian Humayun Parvez said. While, explaining the Awards Ceremony the Mian Humayun said that basic purpose behind organizing ICT AWARDS is to highlight the efforts of individuals and companies for the betterment of the industry . He said that this award show is being organized with the support of Rawalpindi Chamber, Pakistan Software Houses Association and Pakistan Software Export Board and all the arrangements are being completed in this regard.
 He said that for further information please visit and register yourself at http://www.rcciawards.com. He stressed that all awards are being given on merit basis. He urged the companies and individuals to register themselves at aforementioned web address.

Attock village lit by 45 solar power systems
ISLAMABAD (APP): Dhoke Attu Wali, a village in Jand tehsil of Attock district, has been lit by solar power, courtesy Pakistan Renewable Energy Society (PRES), a non-profit organization working for the promotion of renewable energy technologies in the country. With the support of Association for Development of Pakistan (ADP), a total of 45 solar home systems (SHS) have been installed in the village, including mosques and a school. Each of the SHS consists of a 80 watt solar panel, a 65 amp-hour battery, and a charge controller both coupled in a box. The system powers two 6 watt LED bulbs, a DC fan and can also charge mobile phone batteries, said a press release.


The provision of SHS to villagers for electricity production gives families access to lighting and improves their livelihoods in the rural region.
The use of solar lighting instead of kerosene lamps has positive effects on people’s health and leads to reduction of environment damaging gas emissions. Families with SHS are now able to study after dark, or extend the productive workday long after the sun sets.
According to Zaffar Iqbal, a villager, the project would have positive impact on the households in the area. “Before having this solar system, I used kerosene oil and diesel to light my home. Now, my kids will be able to study at night.” Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, PRES Vice President Engineer Tauqir Umer said, “We hope the households who have received the solar home systems will take full advantage and improve their livelihood.” He said the aim of their organization was to give access to clean and reliable sources of lighting through solar power to impoverished communities across Pakistan.
An ADP representative said they funded the project because the village was not connected to the national grid.