Expressing concerns over climate change in the country, Agriculture Experts and Agro-Industrialists have termed climate change, unseasonal rains, and global warming as more dangerous for agriculture urges that farmers adopt modern farming methods and use of modern agricultural technology from sowing to harvesting.
A seminar on “Use of Technology for food security ” was held at the Sindh Agriculture University, in the collaboration with Agriculture Department Government of Sindh, USAID Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity and Center for Agricultural Biosciences International on Wednesday.
Addressing the Seminar, Agriculture Scientist and Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, said that the use of modern technology in the agricultural economy could alleviate food shortage, in the current situation, climate change is severely affecting agriculture, which has not only adversely affected production, but also quality, causing severe hardship to the farmer.
He further said that Sindh is contributing its best share to the country’s GDP through agricultural production; he said that Sindh government has formulated an agricultural policy in which a strategy has been formulated to address water scarcity. However, a modern institution is needed to tackle climate change challenge.
He said that the problem of shortage of agricultural water, marketing and better transportation for access of agricultural produce to the market should also be solved,
Mr. Waqar Ahmed, Director for USAID-Pakistan Agriculture Technology Transfer Activity has said that “We are introducing modern technology programs in agriculture, Last year, 11 mango processing plants were set up in Punjab and six in Sindh,” he said. Due to which the production and export of mango increased.
He further said that Wheat is produced in large quantities every year; the government should build warehouses equipped with modern technology to keep the wheat safe.
Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Liaquat Bhutto, Director, Agricultural Research Institute, said that due to major changes in the climate of the region, seed production capacity has declined, while common diseases have turned into major diseases. He said that major complaints of seeds coming from Punjab have been received.
The Sindh government has introduced an application under the Information Communication System to guide the Farmers; this will be of great help to the farmers, while various social networking sites are providing guidance to the farmers on various issues including climate change through online programs.
Deputy Director Agriculture Extension Riaz Ahmed Memon, Technical Specialists Rana Wajid, Abdul Samad, Umair Solangi and others also addressed the seminar, while representatives of Information and Agro Pharmaceutical Companies Zeeshan Saleem Arain and others also briefed the farmers about the products of their companies.
The seminar was attended by a large number of farmers from Tando Allahyar, Chambar, Tandojam, Khesana Mori, Matiari and other area
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