BEIJING: The lab for sustainable development and ecosystem restoration jointly built by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Shenyang Normal University China inaugurated.
UAF’s Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the two sides expected to run some innovative projects and research programs together under the lab.
While Dr Abid Ali of UAF said that in Pakistan, land degradation has been decreasing agricultural output. Both partners in the project are trying to promote green technology to address this issue.
Joint research in lab
He said that vesides joint research and publication, faculty and student exchange is also part of the cooperation.
At the inaugural ceremony, 5 representatives from UAF professors of entomology Dr Muhammad Jalal Arif and Dr Abid Ali, professor of horticulture Dr Muhammad Jafar Jaskani, agronomy professor Dr Zeeshan Ahmed, and botany professor Dr Muhammad Saqib were engaged as visiting professors of Shenyang Normal University.
In Pakistan, Two third of the continously increasing population rely drylands to support their livelihood mostly by engaging in agro-pastoral activities. The vast arid and semi-arid regions which take over 70 per cent of the national land area, all have been badly affected by land degradation.
According to a Remote Sensing study, land degradation in the country is mainly because of vegetation loss and withdrawal of agriculture, accounting for 53.78 per cent and 40.07 per cent respectively. This is especially acute in the transition area from the northern mountainous region to the eastern and central plain and the Indus River Basin, where the intensification of human activities also plays a key role.
