The Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, known as NIFA, () is one of four agriculture and

food irradiation Food irradiation is the process of exposing food and food packaging to ionizing radiation, such as from gamma rays, x-rays, or electron beams. Food irradiation improves food safety and extends product shelf life (preservation) by effectively ...

research institute managed by the

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) (Urdu: ) is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful usage of nucl ...

. The institute is tasked to carry out research in Crop production and protection,

soil fertility Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality.

water management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightl ...

and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

and value addition of food resources, employing nuclear and other contemporary techniques. NIFA was the brainchild of

Ishrat Hussain Usmani Ishrat Hussain Usmani () ‎ (15 April 1917 – 17 June 1992) , best known as I. H. Usmani, was a Pakistani atomic physicist, and later a public official who chaired the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 1960 to 1971 as well as ...

, bureaucrat and chairman of the

, however due to economic difficulties, the plans were not carried out until the 1980s. In 1982,

Munir Ahmad Khan Munir Ahmad Khan ( ur, ; 20 May 1926 – 22 April 1999), , was a Pakistani nuclear reactor physicist who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nati ...

led the establishment of the institute and its first director was Abdul Rashid who revolutionized the institute. The NIFA administers cobalt-60 radiation source, Laser absorption spectrometer and

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) is a spectroanalytical procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elemlight) by free atoms in the gaseous state. Atomic absorption spectroscopy is based o ...

, Near-infrared spectrometer and

Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy UV spectroscopy or UV–visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis or UV/Vis) refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy in part of the ultraviolet and the full, adjacent visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Being relativel ...

. A library was opened in 1990, and recently, the institute has acquired 75 acres of land at CHASNUPP-I site.

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Energy in Pakistan Nuclear technology in Pakistan Pakistan federal departments and agencies Science and technology in Pakistan Project-706 Nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan Nuclear organizations Food safety organizations Constituent institutions of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission 1982 establishments in Pakistan