SAU holds training for farmers to make saline land cultivable

Hyderabad: A one-day training programme for farmers was organised at the crop production facility of the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) with the support of the Australian Research Council for technical training of saline-affected farmers in the Indus basin regions of Sindh under the Adapting to Salinity in the Indus Basin (ASSIB) project.

A large number of farmers from Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jamshoro, and Tando Allahyar participated in the training programme.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, SAU Pro Vice Chancellor Dr Jan Muhammad Marri stated that negative impacts on agricultural production were being observed in Sindh due to salinity in soil and groundwater.

He emphasised the importance of training farmers to make such lands cultivable and cope with their salinity. Sindh was the province of Pakistan most affected by salinity, he added.

The ASSIB project aims at making agricultural lands getting saline cultivable through research and recommendations from agricultural and water experts, and enabling all the stakeholders to play role in rehabilitating severely saline lands.

Dr Inayatullah Rajper, the dean of the SAU Faculty of Crop Production, mentioned that the effects of salinity were present in soil and water in all four districts, particularly due to the use of non-prescription fertilisers, which had necessitated technical assistance for the affected farmers.

Dr Ghulam Murtaza Jamro, Dr Aijaz Ahmed Soomro, Dr Shaukat Ibrahim Abro and others also addressed the ceremony.

Later, during the technical session and training, various experts, including Dr Muneer Ahmed Mangrio, Dr Muharram Ali, Dr Jawed Umrani, Bhawani Shankar, and others provided training to farmers.