PCRWR to expand scope of Irrigation Advisory, register 100, 000 farmers.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan Council for Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) has planned to expand the scope of `Irrigation Advisory SMS facility for the farmers by increasing the number of registered farmers from existing 20,000 up to 100,000 soon.

The service was launched in April 2016 as an outcome of international collaboration extended by University of Washington (UW) and NASA with an aim to help reduce overwatering and enhance crop yields for Pakistani farmers.

'The University of Washington is providing real time daily Potential Evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation for entire Pakistan using NASA's remotely sensed data. PCRWR determined crop coefficients (Kc) for different crops in different agro-climatic zones of Pakistan,' an official told reporter..

PCRWR has planned to extend its Irrigation Advisory Service to 100,000 farmers now while in the long run, the council envisions extending it to all farmers of irrigated areas through international and national coordination, he added.

The service, he said had already been informing the farmers of 41...