USPCAS-W Organises ASPs Meeting On Agriculture

Country Manager for Pakistan of International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) Dr. Abdul Majid has said that farmers can earn maximum financial benefits with saving of water and extra labour by adopting modern and latest technologies of farming

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Dec, 2017 ) :Country Manager for Pakistan of International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) Dr. Abdul Majid has said that farmers can earn maximum financial benefits with saving of water and extra labour by adopting modern and latest technologies of farming.

This he said in the meeting with Agriculture Service Providers (ASPs) of Jamshoro District at U.S.-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro on Saturday.

By quoting an example of latest technology, Dr. Majid said that the duplicate of Banana Tree Shredder has been made in Pakistan and through this machine, the residual of banana trees could be composed as organic fertilizer which is very beneficial for the soil health and also can be used by farmers in their crops.

He said that through ridge sowing of wheat, 30 to 35 percent of water can be saved, 10 to 20 percent of the yield can be increased, and also water logging can be avoided. On the contrary, he said, the most of the farming in Pakistan is on the broadcasting pattern which causes the wastage of water, water logging and consequently the yield decreases.

While sharing his observations of his recent visit to Sakrand and other areas of Shaheed Benazirabad and Hyderabad districts, he said that trend of farming two crops like sugarcane and wheat simultaneously in Sindh are appreciating in order to get maximum benefit for having two crops on the limited resources and one time use of water for the both crops.

He appreciated the role of Water Centre of Mehran University for sensitizing and helping the farmers of the region for adopting the modern irrigation systems like drip, sprinkler and other systems under the ICARDA project funded by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.

S Agency for International Development (USAID).

The ICARDA Social Scientist Memoona Khan while addressing the participants of the meeting said that through the collective efforts, the international, national institutions and water experts can play the vital role for the water saving and for better water governance.

She said that all the implementation partners of ICARDA Project are working very pragmatically on the efficient use of water in dry areas of Pakistan. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latif Qureshi briefed the ICARDA delegation regarding the recent project interventions.

The delegation also visited the demonstration site of drip system installed by the students of the Centre under the supervision of Dr. Qureshi. On the demonstration site, Engr. Miskeen Ali Bhagat, research assistant of the ICARDA project said fruit trees and vegetables can be cultivated in the dry areas through drip irrigation system.

Wazir Ali Burfat, one of the participant ASPs sharing his experiences said that drip irrigation system is one of the best and successful irrigation modern systems for vegetables especially for tomatoes and ladyfinger.

Due to the shortage of water, the situation of Manjhand of Jamshoro district has become worst than that of Thar, said Raza Muhammad, another participants of meeting while sharing his experiences adding that the government should take notice for the water shortage in the area.