Kitchen gardening: training workshop held

Punjab Agriculture & Meat Company and Pak Business Express conducted Kitchen gardening training workshop at Railway Station Lahore here on Saturday to educate the households regarding cultivation of vegetables at homes. PAMCO Horticulturist Muhammad Imran delivered presentation and on hand training on the occasion.

News Source: Business Recorder    News Collected: agrinfobank.com Team

UAF moot on pesticide management organised

Excessive use of pesticides is not only increasing the resistance among insects but also affects human health because pesticide residues contamination reaching at alarming level. The country imports 12,000 metric tons of active ingredients of pesticides in a year.
It was revealed by the speakers at an International Conference on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of Fruits and Vegetable arranged by the Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The session was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan while Dr Oscar E Liburd from the University of Florida, USA was guest of honour
Professor Dr Oscar E Liburd said that it was need of the hour to adopt and promote the IPM techniques. Pesticides can be used as the last resort, he added. He said that over reliance on pesticides can have negative consequences including worker's safety issue, contamination of ground water, and negative effect on beneficial arthropods including honey bee and others.
He was of the view that the world population will touch to 9 billion by 2050. Keeping the situation in view, it is must to ensure the food security and safety to feed the growing population. Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed the need to adopt the Integrated Pest Management in order to lowering down the impact of the pesticides. He said that IPM is an approach of pest management which considers the whole agro-ecosystem.
He said that Pakistan is cultivating fruits and vegetables on 4 percent of land. He said fruits production was standing at 0.70 million tonnes whereas vegetables share is 0.72 million tones. He said Pakistan's share in global market of fruits and vegetables is fetching $625 million. He said with the use of IPM, not only the production can be increased manifold but also a move to minimise hazardous affect on human health.
Plant Breeding and Genetic Chairman Professor Dr Abdus Salam Khan called for stepping up efforts to ensure the food security. He said that residues from the misuse of pesticides are major concern in many countries including Pakistan. He said that 28.5percent of fruits and 37percent of vegetables exceeded the maximum residual limits (MRL). Department of Entomology Chairman Professor Dr Jalal Arif said that it is a matter of grave concerns that Pakistan's annual losses to fruits and vegetables are standing as many as $200 million because of the attack of fruit flies. Almost 1/3rd of the total harvest is destroyed by the potential pest. He said that the use of pesticide in Pakistan has increased manifold in the last 20 years. The trend must be curtailed and replace with IPM.

News Source: Business Recorder    News Collected: agrinfobank.com Team

Seminar on kitchen gardening held

Islamabad,  Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) in collaboration with Punjab Directorate of Agriculture Information organized a seminar on Kitchen Gardening here on Monday to promote the growing of fresh vegetables & fruits at economical rate through kitchen gardening.

On the occasion, PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, Member Provincial Assembly Punjab Engineer Qamar-U-zman, Director Punjab Agriculture Information Muhammad Rafiq Akhtar, Project Director Fruit & Vegetable Muhammad Asif, faculty members and large number of students were also present.

On the occasion, chief guest Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, PMAS-AAUR, said that University would tender full support for promotion of kitchen gardening and stressed the need to grow vegetables at home for ensuring healthy life.

PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor appreciated the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Shareef vision and said that the Punjab government s Kitchen Gardening program is a purposeful and productive program which should be promoted as it will help in reducing kitchen expenditures and pollution besides making homes good looking and green for healthy environment.

Member Provincial Assembly Punjab Engineer Qamar-U-zman, in his address, talked about the scope and importance of kitchen gardening and said it is need of the hour for the household food security, balance and proper nutrition and safe environment. He stressed the need for taking full benefit of the program as it would prove healthy activity, especially for ladies and old age people besides help to reduce your kitchen expenditures.

While addressing on the occasion, speakers stressed for promotion of kitchen gardening to resolve the issues of public health and improving the lives of the masses. They highlighted the importance of sowing vegetable at domestic level and its economic and health benefits.

They informed the gathering that vegetables grown at home are free of any sort of poison of fertilizer while it also helps cutting the domestic budget. They were of the views that it s time to create awareness amongst the masses about kitchen gardening and its production technology.

Speakers gave multi-media presentation on introduction, objectives and goals of the Kitchen Gardening and emphasized on implementation of Kitchen Gardening at all levels of community to bring a healthy change in society through food . They gave awareness about sowing, growing and cultivation of vegetables at home.

They also told about different types of gardening at home in which small areas can be utilized effectively. They also informed that that empty vessel, cartons, plastic bags and pots could be used for growing vegetables at home. A promotional stall of seeds was also arranged by the Punjab Agriculture Directorate of Information

Source: http://www.onepakistan.com.pk/