Speakers have said that water should be on the top of political agenda and emphasized that the water managers, experts & policy makers should adopt the integrated water resource management techniques to sustain the available water resources for future generation. They also stressed on water resources management and on the enhancement of water productivity pertaining to smart and precision irrigation.
They stated this while addressing at the concluding session of a two-day training workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management at Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi.
Prof. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chief guest at the concluding session while the guest speakers were Dr. Muhammad Akhtar Abbas, Assistant Director in the Australian Federal Ministry of Water and Dr. Sohail Rai, Director Modelling in Murray–Darling Basin Authority.
Dr. Qamar uz Zaman emphasized on the industry-academia linkage to address the challenges being faced by our farmers related to water resources management. He stressed on the enhancement of water productivity pertaining to smart and precision irrigation. He stated that FAE&T, Department of L&WCE is working for national water management under the “internet of things” and Geographic Information Systems to develop an economical solution to provide early weather warnings and crop-related instructions to the farmers.
The Vice Chancellor further eulogized the hard work of the organizers of the training workshop and reiterated his commitment to leave no stone unturned to bring this University at par with the standards of world-leading International universities by providing a congenial environment for the researchers to find the best solutions for the agriculture in the country which is hard-pressed due to small landholdings and growing population.
Dr. Muhammad Akhtar Abbas explained to the participants about Water Market, Water Trading and Water Banking in MDBA and put his thoughts how this idea can be beneficial for Pakistani irrigators specially in Punjab.
