March 2007
Mar 31, Dawn	The Green revolution Agriculture is the essence of the Pakistani economy and Dr Shahid J. Butt writes how biotechnology can be used to improve upon it
Mar 31, Business Recorder	Rs.200 million biotech project to be launched Punjab government has launched a Bio Technology Project worth of Rs 200 million at Ayub Research Institute to further strengthen the agriculture sector.
Mar 26, The Nation	Cotton and Textile Vision 2025 Over 200 institutions in more than 40 countries arc associated with the cotton production research. The subjects of cotton breeding, genetics, entomology and agronomy all have received research interest. There is more research interest in breeding and genetics in China, India and Pakistan. Significant research interest in entomology was received in Australia and USA
Mar 24, Dawn	Cotton in danger The mealy bug may well destroy Pakistan's cotton crop. Dr M. Jalal Arif, Ghulam Abbas and Dr Shafqat Saeed explain what the pest does.
Mar 18, The News	No timeframe yet for Bt cotton variety Technical officials of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and its attached departments have failed to give a timeframe for making available Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) cotton variety for its plantation in the coming Kharif season.
Mar 18, The post	NA body concerned over delay in release of Bt cotton While showing concern over the delay in release of BT cotton variety by public sector, National Assembly's standing committee on Agriculture feared Saturday that multinational breeders companies were hatching conspiracy to get delay in the release of BT cotton variety by public sector in Pakistan. Agriculture commissioner, Qadir Bux Baloch informed the committee that the ministry would hold a meeting of experts on March 29 to set the procedures aimed at conveying the BT cotton variety to the growers.
Mar 14, The Post	BT cotton: Local breeders need NOC from multinationals The agriculture ministry has asked all local breeder companies involved in cultivating BT cotton varieties illegally in different areas of the country to get NOC from multinational plant breeding companies. The meeting held at Parliament House chaired by member National Assembly Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar. He said one out of these companies was involved in cultivating BT cotton illegally and had tried to get NOC from Monsanto, but the company refused to give the NOC.
Mar 13, Pakistan Observer	NIBGE can play major role in poverty alleviation Dr. Amir Muhammad, Rector, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Islamabad has stressed for taking modern and cutting edge microbial technologies at the field level to alleviate rural poverty
Mar 12, The News	Cotton yield on decline: Fakhar PPPP leader and agriculturist Fakhar Imam said the cotton production has been declining. He said the government had not provided latest technology and quality inputs to the cotton growers the Government remained aloof in evolving the legal mechanism to allow genetically modified organisms to be sown in the country.
Mar 06, Pakistan Observer	Use of conventional, technology blend for more Agri production stressedTraining course on integration of modern biotech tools inaugurated University of Agriculture Faisalabad while inaugurating 3rd national training course organized by Center of Biotechnology & Biochemistry (CABB) on "Integration of modern biotechnological tools with conventional system of crop genetic importance"
Mar 05, Dawn	Improving cotton yield Cotton is an important cash crop and lifeline of textile industry. It accounts for 8.2 per cent of the value-added in the agriculture sector and about two per cent to GDP, adds over $2.8 billion to the national economy. Only option is to increase per acre lint yield by applying modern cotton technologies that have successfully been adopted in many developed and developing countries to improve crop yields.
Mar 04, Daily Times	Subsidy on urea to continue, says Bosan Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister, Sikandar Hayat Bosan said leading BT cottonseed developers and suppliers M/s Monsanto of USA and ICI Inc are in touch with me and they have shown keen interest in marketing this seed in Pakistan, he added. The minister said that the government was cautious in the introduction of BT cotton only for one reason, that a good quality genetically modified seed having strong resistance against virus and diseases should be introduced in the country, so that better yield is achieved.
Mar 04, Daily Times	Consultations on GM cotton to start on 6th The regional consultations on genetically modified (GM) cotton for risk assessment and opportunities for small-scale cotton growers will be held at the National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) from March 6 to 8.
Mar 02, Business Recorder	3,000 bales raw cotton to be exported to India Pakistan will export raw cotton to India after almost a gap of 16 years, as Indian traders placed order with Pak exporter for some 3,000 bales of low quality cotton, last month. They said after 1991-92, Pakistan will restart exporting raw cotton to India.
Mar 01, The News	BT cotton to be released this year "Eleven companies are providing unapproved BT cotton varieties in Punjab and the farmers are getting over 50 maunds yield per acre from these varieties," said Secretary Agriculture Ministry Punjab Fiaz Bashir. Federal Secretary Agriculture Ismail Qureshi informed the committee that the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and the environment ministry were working on a fast track and the government would release BT cotton variety during the current year.
Mar 01, The Post	Don't cultivate unapproved seeds: NA Body The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on food, agriculture and livestock on Wednesday during a meeting directed the Punjab government to stop the cultivation of unapproved cottonseeds immediately and to provide approved seeds by the seeds certification departments for the farmers. It also directed the concerned departments to develop insect-resistant cotton varieties at the local level instead of importing from other countries.
Mar 01, The Post	Moot on GM cotton from March 6 Regional conference on "Genetically Modified Cotton for Risk Assessment and Opportunities or Small Scale Growers" will be held at (NIBGE) here from March 6-8, 2007. Dr. Yusaf Zafar Deputy Chief Scientist and organizer of the event said that 59 foreign delegates from Asia, African and other international organizations expected to attend it.