Staff Reporter Rawalpindi
A three days training workshop on Smart Potato Cultivation & Strategies for value chain development commenced at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR), here on Monday, with an aim to address the challenges and strategies to enhance its cultivation by precision agriculture. Dr. Muhammad Zaffar Iqbal Director General Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) was the chief guest while Prof. Dr. Qama-uz-Zaman was the guest of Honor at the inaugural session.
Dr M Zaffar Iqbal said that due to the increase in potato usage in domestic and industrial sectors, its cultivation has become very popular in Pakistan in recent years.
He said that according to the Government’s current vision to improve nutrition for all, it could be one of the alternatives.
There are challenges still exist in term of its production and value addition but government is working hard to address them as they have started to produce high-quality, virus-free and third-generation potato seed with the help of South Korea by using aeroponic technology which will enable Pakistan a self-sufficient in seed potatoes by mid-2022, he said. Prof. Dr Qamar said that precision agriculture and other modern techniques for cultivation are not meant for some specific crops .
