Ludhiana, September 9, 2013: In a bid to join hands with the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), a two-member delegation from New Zealand comprising members, Julia Innocente Jones, Director, International Strategy and Marketing, Lincoln University; and Sunil Kaushal, Head of India Relations, ANZ Bank, New Zealand; visited the University today.
The visiting delegation held a meeting with Dr P.K. Khanna, PAU Registrar; Dr S.S. Gosal, Director of Research; Dr Gursharan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate Studies; and other senior officials of the PAU.
In his remarks, Dr Khanna highlighted the three major components of the PAU including research, teaching and transfer of technology. Deliberating on the strategies for forging the collaboration, he said that the two sides can tie-up in terms of exchange of students and faculty, germplasm exchange, and in the areas of bio-diversity, bio-energy, climate change, eco-system evaluation, food processing and increasing shelf life of food products.
Highlighting the research achievements, Dr Gosal said that the PAU has developed/recommended 727 crop varieties/hybrids till date. At present, various farm issues such as depletion of underground water table, deteriorating soil health, climate change, crop residue management, etc. are becoming a matter of concern for Punjab agriculture, he pointed out. In view of this, the PAU is laying special emphasis on conservation agriculture, farm mechanization, crop diversification, development of climate resilient technologies, and insect-pests and disease management of various crops.
Dr Gursharan Singh apprised the delegation of the organizational set-up of the PAU with thrust on the academic programmes of the University. Highlighting the national and international collaborations of the PAU, he told that the four Ph.D students of this University have carved a unique niche for themselves by bagging the Fellowships under Monsanto's Beachell Borlaug International Scholars Programme in the years 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively.
Earlier, Dr Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal, Additional Director of Communication, welcomed the delegation members and the senior officials of the PAU.
The deans of the constituent colleges, Dr H.S. Dhaliwal (Agriculture), Dr R.S. Sidhu (Basic Sciences and Humanities), Dr Rupa Bakshi (Home Science) and Dr Jarnail Singh, Professor of Processing and Food Engineering and a representative of College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, gave brief details of academic programmes of their respective colleges.
J. I. Jones stated, “There are a lot of similarities between PAU and Lincoln University (LU), New Zealand. We would like to develop linkages with the PAU.” Highlighting the activities of LU and presenting the agriculture scenario of New Zealand, she evinced interest in entering into cooperation for the exchange of faculty and students.
The delegation member, S. Kaushal suggested the collaborative research areas such as production of fruits, extending shelf life of food products, and development of cold storage technology.