Chinese Sichuan Agricultural University helps IUB develop soybean and maize cultivation project

Lahore: Punjab Governor and Chancellor of Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) Engineer Muhammad Balighur Rehman was told that a soybean and maize cultivation project with the help of stripe intercropping technology had been developed with the help of Sichuan Agricultural University of China.

The project will save billions of rupees in foreign exchange spent on poultry feed and edible oil imports. That was why this project has been included in the main projects of CPEC, IUB Vice Chancellor Engineer Professor Dr Athar Mahboob apprised the Governor at a meeting here.

In cotton research, Mahboob mentioned, the IUB had achieved international status and the varieties of cotton introduced by the university were being cultivated on 50 percent of the area.

The Vice Chancellor also apprised the governor about the ongoing teaching and development activities in the university. He said the preparations for the upcoming convocation were underway and requested the governor to preside over it.

The Vice Chancellor contended that higher education sector was one of the priorities of the government and rapid steps were being taken to provide quality education to people of remote areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Engineer Muhammad Balighur Rehman stated that the development and expansion of the IUB was commendable and soon the campus of the university will be established in Hasilpur.

He said that along with enhancing the quality of education, it was very important to provide access to higher education to the youth.

He underscored that the government wanted to bring higher education opportunities to the doorsteps of the youth by opening university campuses in far-flung areas.

In this regard, the steps taken by the IUB for the establishment of Ahmadpur East and Liaquatpur campuses were welcomed.

The Governor asked the vice chancellor to prepare an immediate plan for setting up a university campus in Hasilpur as well. On the occasion, the vice chancellor apprised the Punjab governor about the details of the plan to increase rainfall and establish an agro-economic zone in Cholistan through the latest meteorological system.

The governor said the plan put forward by the IUB for increasing the rainfall rate over an area of 6.6 million kilometers of Cholistan was very useful.

This project will also significantly increase the agricultural area and it will be easier to deal with the challenges facing food security, on the other hand, the locals of Cholistan will also become prosperous.

He said that all possible help would be provided by the Chancellor’s Office to make the special system of increasing rainfall practical.

Punjab Governor Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman later said that he would soon visit the IUB and take personal interest in the development and welfare of the university as it was done in the past.