Workshop 1: 'Agri-Nutrition & Food Security'
This workshop provided an excellent platform to bring together research and academic knowledge with in-country expertise to develop practical solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges including, Climate Change, Food insecurity and Poor health
MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
Both the UPSIGN team and UKRI were honoured to have had Minister Zartaj Gul deliver a talk for Workshop 1. She highlighted the utility of academics, research and the government in coming together to address key issues relating to climate change and food security. Ms. Gul stressed the importance of this collaboration to facilitate Pakistan to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).
To see photos from the workshop click here
To see selected speaker presentations from all three workshops, click here
WORKSHOP 1: AGRI NUTRITION AND FOOD SECURITY
In particular the following topics were discussed; issues related to food security, sustainable food production, strategic planning to maximize dietary diversity and quality, issues to tackle the spread of diseases from livestock to humans (Zoonotic Disease), biofortification of food crop to tackle issues related to malnutrition, issues of antibiotics use, and ways on reducing the use of chemical insecticides for insect pest control.
OUTCOMES:
After two days workshop, at least five strong consortia were developed to focus on some of these challenges. The leads from those consortia will now be responsible for taking the ideas forward and turning them into a more detailed plan, with the hope that this will eventually lead to either collaborative projects and/or future grant applications via any number of potential routes to funding.
Professor Nicola Lowe said “joining with UPSIGN to develop and deliver these, this workshop series opens up exciting possibilities for new collaborations between researchers and community groups from the UK and Pakistan”
Dr Khalid Mahmood said “Pakistan has great potential to improve its agriculture production to address food security and malnutrition through adopting advances in breeding and smart crop protection."
Dr Farooq Shah emphasized: "the need for continuity in collaborations and the need to follow up activities in order to strengthen the consortia already established”
