Agri. Education Pakistan

The Australian government has helped launched an AUD$15 million Water Programme to help the Pakistan Government’s efforts in developing a National Water Commission and National Water Policy. Australian High Commissioner Margaret Adamson said that “Australia has more than one thousand companies which can provide advice and technologies in this critical sector.” Three projects to improve groundwater management in agriculture, implemented by the Australian Government’s Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), will also be included in the programme. On its website, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said: “Pakistan’s access to a strong and healthy workforce is affected by high malnutrition rates, poor water and sanitation, and maternal and child health issues.” Between 2015-2016, Australia sent $55.8 million in foreign aid to Pakistan although this decreased to $47 million between 2016-2017. Also included in the Water Programme is the Austra...

Chicken prices have risen to Rs350 a kilogram and that of boneless meat to Rs600 per kg. Retailers used to maintain a difference of at least Rs100 per kg in prices of live bird and its meat prices, but now they have stopped following the practice due to surging demand. Two kinds of retail rates prevail in the market. Some retailers, who were previously selling live bird for Rs190 and meat for Rs290 per kg, have raised prices to Rs200 and Rs300-320, respectively. The prices of boneless meat have increased to Rs500-520 and that of golden meat to Rs400-420 per kg. However, another category of retailers claiming high quality have increased rates of live bird to Rs210-220 per kg from Rs200, and that of boneless meat and golden meat to Rs580-600 and Rs480 per kg. Market sources said that by raising prices, people belonging to the Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) were recovering the cost incurred on a print media campaign that was run in the middle of February to reject a...

Pakistan has struck an unprecedented deal with Philippines for the export of hybrid rice seed to the Southeast Asian nation, an industry official said on Thursday.   “Philippines has decided to import hybrid rice seed from Pakistan because the crop raised form this variety is less labor intensive compared to Irri,  which is currently being cultivated in the Southeast Asian country,” Shahrukh Malik, executive at Guard Agricultural Research & Services told journalists in a media briefing. “For the first time in the history of the country, domestically developed hybrid seed will be traded to a foreign country. Philippines needs the seed for 2018 crop and we have already increased the production area to 900 acres to meet the demand.” He informed the journalists that Philippines have over 137,000 varieties of Irri but being a labor intensive crop, the archipelago in the southwestern Pacific is looking for a hybrid variety. “The climate in which hybrid rice see...