Punjab today inked three pacts with China's Jiangsu province to put the state on the fast track of agriculture diversification.
These MoUs were signed by the officials of Ocean and Fisheries Bureau of Jiangusu province, Punjab Government, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Guru Angad Dev University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (GADVASU) in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, here, an official spokesman said.
In his keynote address, the Chief Minister apprised that Punjab produces 1.14 lakh tonnes of fish from capture and culture fisheries.
He also informed that it had huge potential of fresh water fisheries especially in the southern districts of the state which still remained untapped and hoped that these MoUs would certainly help Punjab to script a new chapter to give much needed impetus for state's ambitious programme of agriculture diversification.
Badal pointed out that strenuous efforts were afoot to bring nearly 1,000 acre of saline and water-logged area under fish farming during the current fiscal and the state government was already giving 90 per cent subsidy for the development of inland fisheries through construction of ponds.
Likewise, the Chief Minister also evinced keen interest to forge technical and academic collaboration in varied fields of agriculture and its allied activities between both the states.
He also sought mutual exchange of technical know-how and expertise between the state's premier Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and the different institutes of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS) in the area of food crops, industrial crops, horticulture, vegetable crops, agricultural resources and environment, plant production, bio-technology, food safety and monitoring technology, animal sciences and veterinary medicine.
