JANUARY 2019 SEEDWORLD.COM / 89 the Uganda Biosciences Information Center (UBIC) and the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) for their ongoing efforts of sensitizing the public on agricultural biotechnology. He noted that science and technology play a vital role in addressing the key challenges that the farmers are facing, and tools such as biotechnol- ogy come in handy to solve problems of climate change, pests and diseases, and stub- born weeds. Mr. Nassib Mugwanya — Outreach Officer at UBIC revealed to participants the on-going research at NARO, and how the results have shown commendable ben- efits of pest resistance and drought tolerance in biotech crops such as maize. —Source: Crop Biotech Update STATUS PAKISTAN A two-day Sino-Pak inter- national conference on “Innovation in Cotton Breeding and Biotechnology” commenced at the Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture (MNSUA). Delegates from China, Malaysia, Turkey and Iran along with national agri scien- tists are attending the confer- ence held under the auspices of Institute of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology in col- laboration with Biotechnology Research Institute China, Bahauddin Zakariya University and the Punjab government. Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Management and Professional Training Minister Hussain Jahania Gardezi said that cotton was the future of the country’s economy. The minister informed that three decades ago, Pakistan had produced 12 million cotton bales, regretting that last year the country only pro- duced 10 million bales. “Pakistan is lagging behind in cotton produc- tion because technology and breeding system of the crop has changed in the world,” Gardezi notes. He said the country had to import cotton to meet domestic demands because it could not match the pace of the world. “Over 50 percent of Pakistani exports consisted of cotton or cotton items,” the provincial minister says. “We could improve our exports if we go for value addition of cotton.” Earlier, MNSUA Vice- Chancellor Asif Ali highlighted the objective of the conference. He hoped that the experi- ence of international delegates would be helpful in improv- ing the cotton scenario of the country. —Source: Pakistan Today. SW