On Monday 20/10/2008, Dr. Saad Nassar's Hall of Faculty of Agriculture hosted the kicking of activities of the two-day 5th Conference for Sustainable Agricultural Development.
Held under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Hani Helal, Minister of Higher Education and State for Scientific Research, the conference was attended by many dignitaries, including Prof. Dr. Galal M. Said, Fayoum Governor, Prof. Dr. Ahmed Madgy El Gohary, President of Fayoum University, Prof. Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Al Qadi, Vice President for Education and Students, Prof. Dr. Mohamed El Khaleely Barakat, Vice President for Postgraduate studies and Research, Prof. Dr. Abdel Hamid Abdel Tawab Sabry, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Prof. Dr. Samir Seif Al Yazzal, Dean of Faculty of Agriculture and Conference Chairperson, Prof. Dr. Ahmed Abdel Moneim Al Sheiwy, Vice Dean of Faculty of Agriculture for Postgraduate Studies and Research, and Prof. Dr. Magda Abdullah Soliman, Vice Dean of Faculty of Agriculture for Community Service and Environmental Development. Participants included some scientists and researchers representing many of the scientific and research institutions in Egypt, from agriculture research institutes and agricultural research centers, as well as Arab scientific and research institutions from Syria, Yemen, Libya and Algeria in addition to those who attended as the representatives of the agricultural bodies and companies and producers.
The opening session commenced with an address by Prof. Dr. Magda Solomon in which she thanked the audience and the governor for attending the conference and supporting the faculty. Then, both Prof. Dr. Samir Seif Al Yazzal and Prof. Dr. Ahmed Al Sheiwy delivered their speeches about the activities of the conference emphasizing that 36 scientific research papers on the problem of food, control of agricultural pests, how to increase productivity of agricultural resources, how to protect the environment from pollution and the use of molecular biology and tissue culture in the identification of pests are to be tackled.
In his address to the conference, Prof. Dr. Ahmed El Gohary thanked the organizers of the conference and the audience. He said that the conference was to cover the importance of sustainable agricultural development, which means "an integrated agricultural development including the entire rural area and agricultural residues." We hope to reach to a group of recommendations and outputs for developing our local community," he added.
Prof. Dr. Galal M. Said, Fayoum governor, maximized the importance of the conference and its role in achieving the self-sufficiency of local goods to satisfy the local needs. "The conference deals with the development of agriculture-associated resources such as water management and agricultural policies associated with continuous, integrated and sustainable management. We do suffer from having a closed water system and limited water resources, so we hope to find appropriate solutions through this conference to solve our problems in agriculture", he pointed out.
The conference is to discuss more than 36 scientific research papers in the areas of agricultural economics, agricultural extension , land and water, plant production for example field crops, horticultural and agricultural plants, as well as animal, poultry and fish production and biotechnology such as genetics and agricultural microbiology and biochemistry. Also, plant protection, such as insects, pesticides and plant and animal diseases, food science and technology, dairy and agricultural engineering will be covered during the conference days.
On the sidelines of the conference, Prof. Dr. Galal M. Said, Prof. Dr. Ahmed El Gohary and the dignitaries opened an exhibition of agricultural and animal production requirements held in the building of land and water and chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture. The exhibition is sponsored by Samtrade Co. and Shuri Co. for Chemicals and includes some of the goods and equipment for agricultural and animal development.
The conference program goes on as follows:
