Overview/ Comprehensive Introduction

Pakistan’s national economy is heavily dependent on agriculture where the contribution of this sector towards GDP currently stands at 25%.  About 70% of the total population lives in rural areas and is totally dependent on agriculture for its livelihood.  Agriculture sector employs more number of human resources than any other profession in the country.  Pakistan has made some significant progress in this field during the past 62 years, but the country is still not self-sufficient in grain production and a huge sum of foreign exchange is being spent on the import of food stuff from abroad. Industry is another sector whose growth and development depends on agriculture in the form of raw material to produce products for export.   However, it will remain a dream without first making progress in agriculture as did the industrial countries in the past few centuries.   The farming communities involved in this business are still not materializing their full potential and cannot overcome the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger. By ignoring investment in agriculture sector in the form of research and development, we cannot bring industrial revolution in this country. 

This group aims to improve cereal and vegetable crops such as wheat and maize against biotic and abiotic stresses in the changing paradigms of environment, to meet the needs of future and food security. This group also focus to study the ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear in agroecosystems can suggest novel management approaches that would not otherwise be considered. Group studies the complex interactions between plants and their environment.  We focus on physiological and molecular mechanisms that enable plants to cope with stress conditions presented by the changing environment that otherwise leads to changes in plant growth and metabolism. Conservation of biological diversity leads to conservation of essential ecological diversity to preserve the continuity of food chains. Biodiversity conservation serves as an insurance policy for the future. Soil is one of the Earth’s most precious resources and is essential for global food security.  Water supplies are allocated and diverted to a range of agricultural, municipal, industrial, hydroelectrical, and ecological needs therefore, the field of water resources management will have to continue to adapt to the current and future issues facing the allocation of water.  The ability of plants to utilize such mechanisms exerts significant influence over crop yields as well as plant community structure, soil ecology, ecosystem health, and biodiversity. However, as our climate changes the pressure on both soil and water resources will intensify and the need for sustainable management will increase. 

• Agroecology
• Plant Ecophysiology
• Conservation of Biodiversity
• Plant and Soil Interactions
• Water Resource Management
• Food Security
• Soil Use Management