Sindh Agriculture University starts research on disease-free mango plants

HYDERABAD, Aug 30 (APP):The experts of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tando Jam have started research on disease-free mango plants and decided to produce 1,000 plants at the Faculty of Crop Protection in the first phase and later enhance the numbers plants to
20,000 every year.
On a proposal from experts proposed to make organic manure from wasted
vegetables from markets and biogas energy from dung from dairy farms,
SAU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Fateh Marri has announced the formation of a Green Youth Movement comprising students for tree planting and other healthy activities.
In this regard, a meeting of teachers and experts was held on Monday at the Crop Production Faculty which was also attended by Dr Fateh Marri as a guest.
The VC was informed that the objective of starting research was to facilitate the mango growers to get disease-free plants for their orchards.
The VC said instead of disposing of leftover or wasted vegetables in Khawaja Stop and Hyderabad vegetable markets, organic fertilizers can be prepared by processing these vegetables, while biogas and organic manure can be made from animal
dung from dairy farms.
He informed that HEC Green Youth Movement is being formed for other healthy activities including tree planting campaign for the students,
Later, while inaugurating the tree plantation campaign at the Department of Agronomy, he said global warming and climate change in the country could create dangerous situations.
He informed that according to the FAO research, the vegetated cover in developed countries of the world has been reported seven percent while in Pakistan, this proportion is limited to only three percent which is also declining by 1.5 percent annually.
He said the aim of SAU is to give importance to modern agriculture instead of traditional and hereditary farming methods. The SAU has started work on banana waste to prepare thread, organic fertilizer and other products, he said and added, bio agriculture and bio-science need to be further expanded.
He further informed that the university was starting a joint venture of planting trees on both sides of Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road.
The SAU’s Department of Agronomy Chairman Dr Aijaz Soomro informed that new forests are being set up in developed countries considering trees as lungs of environment and forests as symbols of a pleasant environment.
Such efforts are also required in Pakistan in order to meet the challenges of climate
change, he added.