Scientists urged to come up with ideas to face challenges in farm sector.

HYDERABAD -- Sindh Agriculture MinisAter Mohammad Ismail Rahu has urged scientists to come up with new ideas to face challenges of water scarcity, climate change and food security with new technology.

He said the Sindh government had launAchAed many programmes and projects for the development of the agriculture sector.

He was speaking at the first international conference titled 'Agricultural Engineering and Technology (ICAET-2019)' at the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam, on Tuesday. He said Sindh had potential in the agriculture sector and there was need to focus on agriculture value-addition and value chain to export quality products for economic development.

He said that agricultural engineering and technology was the best solution to cope with the challenges of climate change and food security. He added that the Sindh government was drawing a roadmap to achieve value addition, enhancing quality of produce and products, improving export viability and deployment of new technology for betterment of the farming community of Sindh.

He said the Sindh agriculture department was focusing on vertical agriculture farming, information and communication technology for sustainable agriculture and food security, cold chain system, climate-smart agriculture and drone technology for desert areas of Sindh.

He appreciated Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujeebuddin Memon and his team for efforts in agricultural engineering and technology and holding the first ever conference of agricultural engineering and technology in Pakistan at SAU.

The VC highlighted key issues which were hampering development in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. He said lack of technology and certified seed, and old methods of cultivation, conventional farming practices, absence of ecological-based cropping pattern, depletion of forests and lack of modern post-harvest technologies were main issues in Sindh.

Those issues could be resolved through organising national and international forums to come up with possible remedies and improving agricultural productivity, he added.

Pakistan's economy was based on agriculture and Sindh was blessed with fertile lands and irrigation system, he said, adding that SAU would utilise...