ISLAMABAD (March 12 2009): Dr Zafar Altaf, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has called upon the agricultural scientists and growers to use their skills by indigenously promoting plant tissue culture and biotechnology for enhanced agricultural produces.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 4-day training on the "Commercial Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology" at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) here Wednesday, Dr Zafar Altaf said that agriculture must be looked after seriously as the backbone of our economy and the life has to be ordained for the poor masses.

Chairman PARC expressed his hope that after completion of the training a critical mass of human beings would be involved in biotechnology one way or the other. He maintained that the technology cannot be allowed to write the human beings, "human beings must write the technology," he added and said that it was not something super imposed on us.

He said due to the monopoly of the multinational companies the prices of DAP and other agricultural materials have shot up and there was a dire need that the developing countries focused on developing their own technologies, especially in food security.-PR