Khosa terms agriculture backbone of economy

Rawalpindi, Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khan Khosa said on Wednesday that agriculture was backbone of the country’s economy which not only provided food but also earned precious foreign exchange.

“It is responsibility of the agriculture graduates to prepare themselves for future challenges and fully concentrate on agriculture research to take the country forward in this field,” he said while addressing as chief guest at the 12th convocation of Pir Mehar Ali Shah Agriculture University here.

Khosa said that Pakistan has been bestowed with great talent and expressed a need to divert it in the right direction and make the country peaceful and prosperous. He also emphasised a need to make the research department more effective and pledged to provide all required funds. More research should be carried out to grow vegetables in water under hydroponic method so that people of this area could buy vegetables on low rates, he added.

He said that the Higher Education Commission is spending Rs 50 billion per year on 10,000 scholars for the doctorate.Earlier, the Governor inaugurated the new building of Biochemistry and Biotechnology department. Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr Khalid Mehmood in his briefing said that the new building was constructed at a cost of Rs 358 million and it will further improve the research work.

The governor also inaugurated a flower exhibition which was organised by public-private sector and horticulture department of the university. He appreciated the standard of the exhibition and stalls of the different types of flowers and lauded the efforts of the students in this regard.