Farmers Urged To Cultivate New Varsities Of Zinc Wheat

A seminar on "Addressing the Zinc Deficiency through Biofortification of Zinc Wheat in Pakistan" was organized at a local hotel here Thursday to sensitize the media on Zinc deficiency in Pakistan, the importance of bio-fortified wheat varieties and increase awareness among wheat value chain actors

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Mar, 2023 ) :A seminar on "Addressing the Zinc Deficiency through Biofortification of Zinc Wheat in Pakistan" was organized at a local hotel here Thursday to sensitize the media on Zinc deficiency in Pakistan, the importance of bio-fortified wheat varieties and increase awareness among wheat value chain actors.

The media was engaged for advocating policies leading to popularized bio-fortified Zinc wheat varieties and increasing availability of certified biofortified Zinc Wheat to farmers.

Addressing the seminar, Programme Manager, Mansoor Ahmad said that media had become a significant factor in our daily life and was frolicking a dynamic role in shaping public opinion and strengthening society. The purpose of the seminar is also to show how through media the farmers can be stimulated to cultivate new varieties of zinc wheat Akbar-19 and Nawab-2021 so that the growing zinc deficiency in the country can be overcome, he informed.

Project Manager GAIN Syed Qaiser Saeed shared with participants that the human body does not have the ability to synthesize zinc, so it must be obtained through diet. Zinc is a mineral that performs many important functions in our body including strengthening the immune system, healing wounds, producing cells, forming DNA and proteins, slowing down the effects of aging on the body, he said and added, Zinc is closely related to our taste and sense of smell and fertility.

He said that almost 18 percent of boys and girls were Zinc deficient. He emphasized on the cultivation and use of zinc-rich wheat varieties Akbar-19 and Nawab-2021.

Speaking on the occasion, Director Agriculture Extension Shehzad Sabir remarked that media was playing a very important role in the agriculture sector nowadays. With just a few clicks of a button, information can be disseminated, he told and added that these new varieties would diversify the existing wheat genetic pool and help sustain the production process. Dr Mubarak said that Human body required a number of minerals and vitamins to remain active with good health.

Zinc is very important and essential mineral that a body requires for performing different body functions including different biological process. Although, body does not require a bigger amount of Zinc but body cannot store Zinc for a longer time, he said. We always need Zinc rich diet and its deficiency causes many diseases like color blindness, weight loss, emotional disturbance, delayed in wound healing etc. Therefore, adding Zinc wheat varsities in our routine food is essential for us, Shehzad Sabir added.

Mr. Mubarak Ali Sarwar, Chief Executive Officer, AGAHE concluded that the excelling role of media was compulsory in enlightening the people about the significance of bio-fortified wheat varieties to overcome the Zinc deficiency in Pakistan. In this regard, the media should play its role to campaign policies to popularize bio-fortified Zinc wheat varieties and increase the availability of certified bio-fortified Zinc wheat seeds for farmers. Being a development organization, we are trying our best level to raise awareness among farmers and common men, he expressed.