The experts of agriculture have recommended improvement in the development and management of water for agriculture to meet the growing demand for food, alleviation of poverty and sustainable economic growth.
They were speaking at a one-day seminar organised by the Department of Irrigation and drainage, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad here on Wednesday.
The title of the seminar was "Efficient Use of Land and Water for Poverty Alleviation." The university vice-chancellor, Dr Bashir Ahmed Shaikh presided over the seminar.
The purpose of the seminar was to promote integrated management for sustainable use of land and water and to develop more applied knowledge, policy instruments, national capacities and technologies, which would assist in developing more efficient and sustainable management of land resources for alleviating poverty, improved productivity with minimal cost and efficient use and management of scarce water resources.
The vice-chancellor Dr Bashir Ahmed Shaikh in his presidential addressed said that agricultural development based on water conservation and irrigation is often considered a promising avenue for poverty alleviation in rural areas.
He said that the poverty eradication is one of the top policy agenda of the present government with a strategy at the national level to facilitate all farmers to have sufficient ownership of land to increase long term agricultural productivity. He said, this policy is aimed at maximising the utilisation of land along side the improvement of soil quality.
The Vice-Chancellor further said that the government is also committed to increasing efficiency of water resources management and allocating water in accordance with the demand of farmer's production system. He said that SAU Tandojam has taken positive measures to guide the farmers to adopt the methods of efficient use of land and water for irrigation for poverty alleviation.