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Pakistan
Atomic Energy Commission launches wasteland rehabilitation
project
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has launched a
project to rehabilitate 25,000 acres saline wastelands of the
country with the participation of the farmers at a cost of Rs
176.82 million.
This was stated by Chairman of the Commission, Pervez Butt at
the concluding ceremony of Farmers Training Course on Saline
Agriculture, under the IAEA Inter-Regional Model Project,
"Sustainable Utilisation of Salt-affected Wastelands and
Underground Brackish Water for Plant Production", here at
Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
Apart from IAEA experts, the course was attended by
participants from Morocco, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and
Tunisia.
The Chairman commended the Bio-scientists of PAEC for the
introduction of new crop varieties in cotton, wheat, rice,
grain legumes that have paid handsome dividends to the
farmers. He hoped that the experience gained in bio-saline
agriculture would be utilised in the development of specific
type of agricultural and forestry activity in selected areas
of Cholistan, Thar and Lower Sindh.
The Chairman, PAEC, urged bio-scientists of the Commission to
provide maximum support to the project in line with the high
priority being assigned to this sub-sector by the Government.
He said, the project should result in evolving complete
packages suitable for transferring this inexpensive technology
to a large number of small and medium size farmers in the
country. He said, soil and water salinity is one of the major
obstacles in the development of agriculture in Pakistan.
Explaining why Pakistan has a deep interest in the IAEA
project, Pervez Butt said Pakistan has a land area of 77
million hectares, out of which about 16 million is irrigated
by the largest canal work in the world. Another 6 million
hectares, he said, depends on seasonal rainfall. The remaining
55 million hectares is arid or semi arid and suffers from
acute shortage of water.
He said, certain areas do have some groundwater that is highly
saline and cannot be used for normal agriculture. Therefore,
he said, Pakistan attaches a very high priority to tackling
the problems of soil and water salinity and disposal of
drained saline water.
He said, the Commission feels proud of the excellent
pioneering work done in this respect at its Nuclear Institute
of Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), at Faisalabad.
Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, Member Bio-sciences of the
Commission highlighted the objectives of the course and the
intended benefits.
courtesy Daily
Business Recorder ,
20
April, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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