Minister for Agriculture Punjab, Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi has said that the Smart IoT Farm will help the farmers to get modern agricultural technology to increase the agricultural production.
He stated this at the inauguration of the Smart IoT Farm established at University Research Farm (URF), Koon of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR), here on Saturday.
The aim of establishing this Smart IoT Farm is to promote digital and precision agriculture at the National level so that the farmers will be aware of the needs of their crops in real time.
On this occasion, PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman, Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan, PCSIR Chairman Dr. Syed Hussain Abidi, Executive Director SDPI Dr. Abid Sulehri, Ex-Provincial Minister Sindh Hassan Ali Chandio, Progressive farmer Afaq Ahmad Tiwana, faculty members, deans, directors, students and farmers were also present.
High losses are being faced and the establishment of this farm will be effective in bringing modern agricultural technology to the farmers, said Punjab Agriculture Minister. He asked the vice-chancellors of the universities to facilitate the access of farmers to farms like this so that digital agriculture and precision agriculture can be popularized in Pakistan.
The Provincial Minister further said that by promoting modern agricultural technology and digital agriculture, Pakistan can not only become self-sufficient in agricultural production but also realize the dream of exporting agricultural products.
He congratulated PMAS-AAUR Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman & his team for establishing this farm and emphasized on updating its data on back end on daily basis. He also congratulated Vice-Chancellor for introducing modern digital and precision agriculture for the first time in PMAS-AAUR.
The provincial minister also indicated the allocation of funds for precision agriculture. Later, the provincial minister inaugurated the Smart IoT Farm and also reviewed the use of smart spray, drone technology, GNSS land leveling system, auto-steering technology, automatic irrigation system and other precision farming.
While addressing, Prof. Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman said that it is the need of the hour to strengthen industry-academia ties on promote modern agricultural technology for which agriculture scientists will have to make every effort to solve the problems of farmers.
Precision agriculture will not only increase per acre production but will also help to eliminate poverty and also ensure food security.
While highlighting precision agriculture he said that it can play dynamic role to tackle all the problem which are facing by the farmers by providing smart agriculture system to increase agriculture production.
Vice Chancellor also appreciated the efforts of the Prof. Dr. Jahanzeb Masud Cheema and Dr. Naveed Tahir for establishing Smart IoT Farm and hope that this farm will contribute to uplift the livelihood of small farmers.
