No denying in saying that solar energy is the need of the hour due to the mammoth energy crisis in Pakistan. It has to be promoted in an apt manner to overcome the prevailing crisis of energy in Pakistan. Once the promotion of solar-based energy and technologies is done, it will not only help Pakistan overcome the energy crisis, but also enhance the agriculture sector by narrowing post-harvest losses going-on in the country.

Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad, said at the inaugural session on Attentive Energy for Community Development that around 95 percent of milk remained unprocessed in the country. He insisted that if pasteurization of milk technology was promoted at a village level, it would surely help at addressing the issue. Prof Dr Iqrar further revealed that the university had developed a milk chiller, which would save nutritive values of the milk.

Vice Chancellor added that Pakistan was producing a big quantity of biomass and field residue every year, which had to be converted into electricity as an alternative manner.

Dr Munir Ahmad, Director General of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council’s Engineering Division, revealed that Pakistan was producing millions of tonnes of dates, but merely 20 percent were dried with sunlight. He then stressed on the need of promoting solar dryer.