RAWALPINDI  -  Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) has officially become a member of Agricultural Associated Universities Alliance (AAUA) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) partner states, informed a spokesman on Tuesday. 

The Alliance of Agricultural Associated Universities of SCO states was initiated during an online meeting that was attended by heads of agricultural universities of SCO member states. While addressing the forum, PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Qamar Zaman highlighted issues of Potohar region and scope of this alliance for this region.

He emphasised to improve the bilateral ties that bind our brotherly countries. As the university is situated in Potohar region, therefore our main focus is to address the farming issues of the region.

Dr. Zaman highlighted the weaknesses of agriculture in Pakistan and also China’s past achievements in its future agriculture development. These collaborations can help improve Pakistan’s Agriculture to address its shortcomings and adopt modern ways to overcome them.

The vice chancellor also showed the significance of rain-fed agriculture and said that rain-fed agriculture is capable enough with an appreciable potential to cope up the increasing food requirement for the rising population of the Potohar region.

Dr. Zaman highlighted the special potential for growing vegetables, olive products, grapes, citrus, avocado and flora. He also claimed that the university is already focused on use of modern agricultural practices particularly in the arid region by running mega projects on precision agriculture, industrial biotechnology, medicinal use of hemp, application of drones and satellite based technologies to maximise the agricultural productivity. The vice chancellor also hoped to uplift rain-fed agriculture by benefitting from this forum.

At the end, the Vice Chancellor thanked Prof. Zhang Zhengmao for including PMAS-AAUR in the alliance and Dr. Zahid Akram, Director ORIC and Director External Linkages for their efforts in making this meeting successful.