SUKKUR: Abdul Majid, Country Manager for Pakistan of International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) said that efforts were being made to strengthen Pakistan’s water productivity by using the best irrigation practices and modern technologies. At the quarterly meeting on ‘Pakistan Water Dialogue: Diffusion and Adoption through Partnerships and Action of the Best Watershed Rehabilitation and Irrigation Practices’, second phase project funded by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and ICARDA, at US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) he said that this project aimed to build capacity of rural farmers and to facilitate adoption of modern cost-effective and efficient irrigation practices and technologies, particularly drip, sprinkler, raised-bed planting and pipe irrigation systems. He said that thirteen different technologies were being used on water component of the project in this phase whereas the effective work was also being carried out on soil component of the project. He further said by adoption of modern irrigation methods and soil testing, not only the water could be saved but also productivity would be increased and also use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides would be reduced. Dr Bakhshal Lashari, project director USPCAS-W MUET said that role of Agriculture Service Providers (ASPs) was very much important and all implementing partners of the project may include ASPs in the agenda and activities. He said the government and farmers were major stakeholders of the project so their efforts to get the project successful need to be highlighted. In the quarterly meeting of project implementing partners included Prof Dr Abdul Latif Qureshi from USPCAS-W MUET, Mushtaq Ahmed Gill, South Asian Conservation Agriculture Network Lahore, Ahmad Zeeshan Bhatti, from Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources Islamabad, Dr Riffat Bibi from Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute Chakwal, Ms Marjan Aziz from Barani Agriculture Research Institute Chakwal, Dr Abid Hussain from Social Sciences Research Institute National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Dr Muhammad Munir Ahmed from Climate Change Alternate Energy and Water Research Institute, Dr Allah Bakhsh from Water Management Research Centre, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Muhammad Yousuf Channa representative of Sindh Agriculture Extension Department presented their progress report and future adoption plan of the project activities.
Published in Daily Times, October 17th 2017.
