The agriculture experts said that promotion of soybean cultivation was imperative to curtail soybean import bill worth $1200 million. They were addressing the soybean conference arranged at the Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) here on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the UAF would establish 1000 demonstration/ trial spots of high-yielding soybean at farmer’s fields this year while last year, 170 farms were demonstrated in a bid to encourage the crop cultivation.
He said that China is the world’s largest importer of the soybean whereas the US is the largest exporter of this commodity. He said that Pakistan is importing essential commodities worth $10 billion per annum and half of this import comprises of edible oil.
He said that cultivation of the soybean would address the nutrition crisis. India, in order to promote the local soybean cultivation, imposed the import duty on this commodity and we should also adopt such strategy, he added.
He said that soybeans are a major global commodity and contribute significantly to international trade. Soybeans are an excellent source of protein and source of vegetable oil worldwide.—APP
