HYDERABAD: Dr Fateh Marri, the vice chancellor of Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), has said that while agriculture and livestock sectors have been badly affected by recent rains, there will be negative effects for about 100,000 students studying in universities.

Speaking to the media during a visit to the free veterinary medical camp for rain-related diseases in cattle, established by the university’s Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Dr Fateh Marri said that due to recent rains the agriculture of Sindh has been seriously damaged, especially the cotton crop, and in the coming cotton season “we will not even be able to get cotton seeds, while we will have to import cotton for our textile industry”.

“Shortly we will have to face various problems including lack of certified seeds of wheat, vegetables, oilseeds, and other crops, while we will have to give importance to late varieties and alternative crops,” he added.

Dr Marri said that experts will have to play a responsible role to get the farmers of Sindh and the country out of the economic crisis, and the cattle are also facing a lot of problems due to this rain.

He said that the university’s veterinary experts have diagnosed skin, stomach and other diseases in animals, due to continuous exposure to dirty rainwater.

He said that due to the heavy rains in Sindh, students studying in universities will be affected the most, and poor families will not be able to pay their children's fees because of this, the future of more than one lakh children is at risk.

He said that we are in contact with various institutions including the federal, provincial governments and HEC to increase the number of free ships, student loans, Qarz-e-Hasna and scholarships for poor and affected students. He said an online conference will be held in which experts from Sindh Agriculture University and IBA Karachi will present their papers and jointly Suggestions will be made to solve the problems.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022