BAHAWALPUR
The International Dates and Date Palms conference started here at Baghdadul Jadid Campus of the Islamia University Bahawalpur which was presided over by IUB/GSCWU VC Dr Muhammad Mukhtar while King Saud University Saudi Arabia’s Dr Abdur Rehman S Al-Dawood was the chief guest of the inaugural session.
The conference is being arranged jointly by the IUB, the HEC and the King Saud University Saudi Arabia in collaboration with the Agriculture University Faisalabad, the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, the Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, Lasbela University Balochistan, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur (Sindh), Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Fauji Fertilizers, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Orega Group Chemicals, Shamim Group of Industries, Wasaib Organization and the Cholistan Development Council.
In his presidential address, the IUB/GSCWU VC said that main objective of the conference was to promote production of this fruit which was religiously of high importance and had a complete diet full of energy medically.
He said that Islamic world was quite rich in the production of dates and top 10 countries known for dates production were Muslim Countries and Pakistan had also been producing dates in sufficient quantity while Bahawalpur had also had prominence in this regard.
He said that the conference would help boost research activities on dates at international level and students would know about the economic worth of dates. He announced to develop a garden of Date Palms at the Islamia University which would be inaugurated by the Saudi guests besides setting-up a centre of production and processing of the fruits of the Tropical areas for which the brotherly Islamic countries would be consulted for cooperation.
He thanked for the cooperation of the Agriculture Research Centre, Egypt’s Delegate, Adil Abuul Sawad, Senior Faculty member, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, Khawaja Ghulam Rasool, HEC, King Saud University, Agriculture University Faisalabad, Arid Agriculture University, Gomal University, Lasbela University, Shah Abdul Latif University, Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Punjab Agriculture Research Board, Horticulture Research Station, Bahawalpur, Punjab Agriculture department, Fauji Fertilizers, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Orega Group Chemicals, Shamim Group of Industries, Wasaib Organization and Cholistan Development Council, Bahawalpur.
The chief guest, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia’s Dr Abdur Rehman S Al-Dawood in his address remarked that at the moment we had been struggling to save dates and date palms from different kind of virus which had been effecting the production as Saudi Arabia was the leading country for the production of dates and on top for exporting Dates in the world as the Saudi Arabia had exported dates worth three billion dollars last year and now we had been facing threats of virus and we had been trying to control the diseases with the cooperation of Egypt and Pakistan’s Agricultural experts to maintain progressive ratio of exporting dates from 1983 to 2009.
He said that he considered Pakistan his second home and try his best for the betterment of this country in every field and fully support to promote the growth and production of dates in Pakistan with the coordination of those countries which had controlled the virus affecting dates and date palms though the Date Palm had the quality of most resisting power against virus as compared to other plants.
He expressed the hope that this conference would be quite helpful to promote this fruit and would put forwards appropriate recommendations for the benefit of many countries.
He appreciated the efforts of Dr Mukhtar for conducting this conferencing which would prove to be a good platform for the promotion of dates production and processing.
Speaking on the occasion, SALU Dr Ghulam Sarwar Markhand disclosed that Pakistan was on number three in the world for dates production and date Palms on 93 acres of land in the country had been producing 6,000 tonnes of dates annually and expressed deep concern that we had to improve the quality of our product as well as we had to find more ways for marketing as currently the rate of Pakistani dates in the international market was 400 dollars per ton while other countries receive 800 dollars of the same quantity. He underlined the need to improve the processing process which should be designed on scientific lines to improve the quality of our Dates for better results and urged to set-up more Processing units in the country to meet the demand.
He hoped that the conference would prove to be milestone for getting required results to promote and improve the dates production in the country.
IUB University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Principal Dr Mouzam Jamil in his welcome address said that agriculture was the backbone of Pakistani economy so we had to give special attention towards it.
Later, an exhibition of dates was also held on the occasion in which various organisations and universities of the country set up stalls while the world known dates of Saudi Arabia highly attracted the visitors. Egyptian Agricultural expert Adil A.Abu-ul-Sawad and others also delivered lectures on the occasion and highlighted the importance and historical facts of the Date.
The issues of production, processing and marketing in the Arab world and South Asia were discussed in the third session of the conference.
Eminent Banker Qasim Chishti, Tabish Alvri, Malik Habibullah Bhutta, and other notables, officials, faculty members and students attended the conference.