Bahawalpur, June 25, 2022 (PPI-OT):Governor Punjab Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman in a meeting with Engr. Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob, Vice Chancellor, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur and Director National Research Center for Intercropping IUB and Postdoctoral Officer of Sichuan Agricultural University Muhammad Ali Raza emphasized to reduce the rising import cost and encourage local soybean production to reduce import cost. Governor Punjab appreciated the efforts of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur in promoting soybean related intercropping technology in Pakistan and in view of excessive reliance on Pakistani imports for soybean supply.
He expressed readiness to invest more in this sector. Maize soybean strip intercropping technology was introduced in Pakistan in 2018 from Sichuan Agricultural University. This advanced Chinese technology makes the best use of available space to grow crops on the same area of land that is equivalent to soybean production. An additional ‘bonus’, which has been helping Pakistan reduce soybean shortages and reduce soybean imports for the past four years. This season, the total display area of corn and soybean strip intercropping technology in Pakistan has exceeded 400 acres, which is about 2.67 times more than last fall.
In addition, more crop varieties are being added to the intercropping system including wheat, soybean and sugarcane, soybean intercropping. Demonstration plots are now being harvested, which is expected to yield promising results soon. Dr. Muhammad Ali Raza said that last season more than 200 farmers used our technology and this number is still increasing day by day. Farmers are quite satisfied with the results. They are contacting us and want to adopt more ground technology.
Most importantly, this season a new intercropping specific soybean line has been developed by Dr. Muhammad Ali Raza and Dr. Zaheer Ahmed, in-charge Soybean Lab for Agricultural University Faisalabad (UAF). It is learned that the new line of soybean can easily produce soybean at 480 to 720 kg per acre in intercropping system, whereas production of other varieties of soybean is reduced to only 200 to 400 kg per acre.
For more information, contact:
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB)
University Chowk, Gulshan Colony, Bahawalpur,
Punjab – 63100, Pakistan
Tel: +92-62-9250235
Fax: +92-62-9250335
E-mail: info@iub.edu.pk
Website: https://www.iub.edu.pk/