The Vice Chancellor (VC), Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tandojam, Professor Dr Bashir Ahmed Sheikh has said that Sindh inherits the fertile Indus valley which is famous for its glorious heritage of Mohen-jo-Daro, the centre of civilisation.
He said, "the excavations in Mohen-jo-Daro revealed the Sindh's history of prosperity in terms of agriculture. The remains found from the site suggest that Sindh, in ancient times too, was rich enough to export its agro-products to entire Sub-continent.
Highlighting the history of the Sindh Agriculture College (SAC) he said training for agricultural professionals was realised with the construction of Sukkur Barrage in Sindh and the King George V Institute of agriculture was established at Sakrand District, Nawabshah in 1939 that offered a three years BSc Agriculture degree initially. That programme was converted into a four-year degree course in mid-forties and the SAC was shifted to Tandojam in 1954.
The infrastructure of the college was significantly developed during sixties with the introduction of postgraduate programmes. Demand to set up a separate University for in Sindh was put in mid-sixties and consequently the SAU was established under the Sindh Agriculture University Act on 1st March1977, he continued.
Further, Sheikh said that system of education is based on contemporary demands for subjects like Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Bioinformatics and Management Sciences offering degrees of BSc Honours, Agriculture BE, Agriculture Engineering DVM and BSIT including MSc MPhil and PhD.
Besides, the campus of the institute presents a learning environment incorporating all useful facilities. He also said that the faculty is a group of competent professionals with a combination of foreign and local degrees. It has established bilateral programs with the Washington State University, Pullma University of Wales and Moscow Agriculture Academy.
Talking about the campus capacity the VC said SAU offers residential facility to about 2000 students out of its total enrolment of over 7000. It has a over 205 faculty and staff. As a sustainable agriculture sector is the prime requirement of today's Pakistan with it's population expected to each 220 million by 2020, therefore we must develop the potential and ability to meet the growing food demand.