Mian Rashid Asghar
FAISALABAD: The University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) opened two-day Pak-Indonesia Food and Nutrition Festival on the second day of ongoing two-week long spring festival celebrations that attracted a large number of festivity lovers and provided an opportunity to the people to get refuge from monotonous routine.
Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan Adam M Tugio along with UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan inaugurated the Pak Indonesia Food and Nutrition Festival at the National Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFSAT) arranged by UAF in collaboration with Indonesian Embassy. The Ambassador also chaired the international conference on contribution of vegetable oil towards sustainable development goals at NIFSAT.
Dean Masood Sadiq Butt, Lt General (r) Sadiq Ali, DG NIFSAT Dr Imran Pasha, former MPA Najma Afzal, former DG NIFSAT Dr Faqeer Anjum, Dr Muhammad Firdaus from Agriculture Bogar Institute Indonesia and others were also present on the occasion.
Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan Adam M Tugio said that strong bilateral relations in agriculture, academia, and industry would get benefit to learn from each other experiences and fight the common challenges. He said such festival provides an opportunity to get closer to each other cultures and people to people contact. He said many Pakistani students were studying in Indonesia and his country was providing ample opportunity of scholarships from which Pakistani students should get benefitted. He said that palm oil production was important to economy of Indonesia as the country is one of the biggest producer. He urged the agricultural experts to enhance efforts for oil seed crops keeping in view SDG.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that Pakistan strengthened relations would help get benefit from each other experiences and meet the challenges of the modern era. He said that the food security was one of major concerns. He said that Pakistan was importing edible oil worth USD 4 billion that was a matter of concern for the agrarian society. It was need of the hour to promote oilseed crops in the country to overcome the issue. He said that 40 percent of our population is malnourished. We need to change our food habit. He said that UAF was the first university to start the Human Nutrition and Dietetics degree program which was being replicated in all universities of the country. He said that the spring festival featured flower , agri and nutrition festivals, book fair, fancy birds show, tent pegging, goat and sheep show, sports gala, , Lyallpur and Literature festival and others. T
Dean Faculty of Food Nutrition and Home Sciences Prof Dr Masood Sadiq Butt said that Pakistan consumes millions of tons of edible oil a year, of which majority of it is imported, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia and – the world’s biggest producers of the commodity. He said that palm oil is widely used by the industry for manufacturing ghee. . He viewed that we have to ensure proper procedures and measures for the production of the edible oil for the health of the people.
Lt General (r) Sadiq Ali showed his concern that despite of being blessed with fertile land and ecosystem, we are importing eatables. He said that we have to flourish the agricultural productivity to ensure the food security and alleviate poverty.
Dr Imran Pasha called for joint efforts to cope with the food security which is posing a threat. He said that 130 stalls of the food has been set up at the festival. He said that NISFSAT was using all resources to develop the entrepreneurial skills among the students. The stalls of Indonesian dishes were also set up at the festival.