PAEC Agri Centre NIAB holds National Field Day

FAISALABAD: Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) a leading agricultural research centre of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) arranged National Field Day on High Value Oil Crops and Food Safety here on Tuesday. NIAB is one of the four premier agriculture research centres of PAEC in the country.

Dr Muhammad Yussouf Saleem, Chief Scientist, Director NIAB delivered a welcome address and highlighted the contribution of NIAB in introducing climate smart varieties of different crops using nuclear techniques under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s vision of ‘Atoms for Peace and Development’. He also told about the contribution of NIAB in promoting oild seed crops that have resulted in saving foreign exchange by reducing the import bill for the country.

Dr Kashif Riaz Khan Head Plant Breeding & Genetics NIAB, briefly told about the purpose of the activity and said that the scientists have done their work and now is the time to take the seeds of the high yield varieties to the fields all over Pakistan so that country can achieve self sufficiency in the field of agriculture.

DrMahmood-Ul-Hassan, Principal Scientist/Group Leader Edible and Industrial Oil Crops, NIAB, gave a detailed briefing on NIAB’s high yield varieties of Castor bean and Sesame and their field performance. He also highlighted the need to explore opportunities for its promotion through higher production, commercialization and value-addition.

Dr Uzma Maqbool from Food Safety Division NIAB delivered a lecture on keeping the food chain pure by avoiding artificial methods and steroids to enhance dairy products and they might be detrimental to human health on consumption.

All stakeholders including progressive farmers, seed companies, agri. engineers, oil industries, value addition industries, scientists, faculty members and postgraduate scholars were present at a single platform. Later, a field visit was also arranged to showcase the field performance of both the crops and the visitors were very impressed to see the healthy and lush green fields of Sesame and Caster bean at NIAB.