The Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research (NFSR) asked the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) to take appropriate measures for disseminating information of agricultural research to the grassroots level.

The committee met here Wednesday with Senator Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah in the chair and discussed the different issues related to agricultural development and research for enhancing the production of crops in the country.

The committee called upon PARC to further convey the agricultural research to the doorstep of the farmers particularly farming community living rural areas to enhancing their farm output by utilizing the modern and innovative technology.

Committee also directed the research institute to develop the nurseries and seeds centers across the country to facilitate the farmers to enhance the agriculture output.

The meeting further directed the council to release its own newsletter or magazine containing the expert opinions and guidelines of the agricultural experts.

The committee also directed the council to initiate public and private partnership to develop the high yield varieties of different crops of fruits and vegetables. PARC Chairman Dr Iftikhar Ahmed told the committee that high yielding seed of wheat was introduced by National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) which enhanced about 17 mound output per acre.

Besides, the PARC has also developed hybrid seed of canola which is available at the reasonable price in the open market, he said.It was further told that the PARC had developed new different types of seeds varieties in ten years while it takes at least of 15 years to produce such seeds.

The meeting was attended by Senators, Muhammad Kazim Khan, Nuzhat Sadiq, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan Dhandla and Mohsin Leghari.