ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Chairman Dr Zafar Altaf here on Tuesday stressed the need for new methods and techniques to enhance quality agricultural production in the country to cater the increasing demand of food. Talking to media persons at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), the PARC head said that there was no scarcity of water and land to be utilized for enhancing the crop production but what is needed is the will and determination to take advantage of these resources. He said that there was no land in the country which could not be utilized for one or the other purposes of crop production. However, research work was needed to identify what areas are favourable for what crops. He said that NARC has developed bio-remediation garden to purify the drainage water and make it clean and usable which could be utilized for crop production. He said that the changing seasons would also affect the crop patterns of the country so there was need to take measures to cope with this system by utilizing new techniques of cultivation. Zafar Altaf said that PARC was working in developing hybrid seeds of cotton, rice, wheat, maize, oil seed and vegetable to enhance production. He said that the agriculture scientists need to use their own mind for innovation instead of depending on the West adding that dependence on the Western counties for the development of agriculture sector have disturbed the production system. Earlier, the management of NARC under the leadership of its Director General, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, took the journalists to various ongoing projects to make them aware of the research work. They were shown various research projects that included new varieties of mangoes, pear, fig, grapes, olive etc. They were also shown the cotton production and the systemic development of cotton, maize and rice hybrid seeds in the farm. The journalists were also taken to the bio-remediation garden developed to purify water and make it usable for crops.