By Rehan Khan Khushik

Sukkur, Sindh

Dr. Charles Burt, a renowned water expert from ITRC California USA visited the Ghotki feeder at Guddu Barrage for the calibration of the water inflow measurement of canals.

Dylan Goodwin of ITRC water expert, Sajid Ali Bhutto chief engineer of newly established Barrages Management Unit (BMU) Sindh irrigation department accompanied him and took part in calibration of the canals on third consecutive day on Wednesday.

Dr. Charles Burt and Dylan Goodwin water expert were on a three-day visit of the canals for calibration.

ITRC is a center of excellence housed within the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering (BRAE) Department of California Polytechnic State University.

“To know the flow measurement of the canals, the calibration of the canals was started and after this calibration of the canals, the engineers of Sindh Irrigation Department will be trained to distribute the water in the canals and barrages judiciously as per availability,” said Dr. Charles Burt.

“This is the technical-based calibration of the canals and it would be continued at all canals series wise,” Dylan Goodwin said.

“It is baseline calibration of the canals and barrages according to World Bank guide lines,” Sajid Ali Bhutto chief engineer BMU told.

“Renowned water experts shared the expertise in calibration for ensuring accurate measurement and efficient management of water resources,” he said.

He said that through calibration of the canals, the systematic distribution of water will be happened.

“Calibration of 14 canals of the Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri Barrages will be conducted following the World Bank guideline under the Barrages Management Unit with support of Sindh Barrages Improvement Project funded by World Bank for proper distribution of the water to the canals from the barrages,” he added.

He said that calibration of the canals will be continued for one and half a year.

Assistant Engineers of Sindh Barrages Improvement Project Fatah Memon and Faisal Shaikh also accompanied the water experts.

Faisal shaikh said that it is learning process and will be fruitful for young professionals.

Abdul Fatah Memon said that that experiences gained under Dr. Charles Burt’s, will be helpful for ensuring systematic water distribution at canals.

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Jamshoro

Consultative Workshop on Hydro-Agro Informatics (HAI) Centre Sindh Water & Agriculture Transformation Project was held at U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water, in association with Sindh Irrigation Department, Agriculture Supply & Price Department, SIDA, PCMU, Planning & Development Department, USPCAS-W Mehran UET, FAO and The World Bank.

The FAO will establish an HAI center to facilitate the farmers, government departments, Irrigation, and various stakeholders. The HAI will offer Flow & Irrigation Service Monitoring, Water Accounting, Supporting Strategic Water Planning, Flood & Drought assessment reports and services, Crop Monitoring Services, Agriculture Water Productivity, Storage Monitoring, Data Services, Quality Development Activities, groundwater, Waterlogging and Salinity information and services. The farmers and other stakeholders will benefit from the real-time data to increase yield, water management, and conservation.

The event’s chief guest was Nazeer Ursani, Project Coordinator PCMU. Prof Dr. Taha Hussain Ali Vice Chancellor Mehran UET Jamshoro, experts from World Bank, Mr. Greg Browder (Global Lead for Water Resource Management) and Mr. Poolad Karimi (Irrigation Specialist) and experts from FAO, Mr. Fabio Grita (International Consultant) and Ahmed Junaid Memon (Team Lead) were present in the event.

The Keynote Speaker, Prof. Dr. Rasool Bux Mahar, Director USPCAS-W, Mehran UET, delivered the presentation on the Monitoring and Decision Support System for HAI based on research at USPCAS-W, MUET. Mr. Greg Browder gave the presentation on The Role of HAI in SWAT, project objectives, structure and components of the HAI program. Mr. Poolad Karimi presented Potential HAI Services and examples. Ahmed Junaid Memon explained the Conceptual design and potential services of the HAI Program.

Various stakeholders, farmers, government officials, faculty members and experts from the different departments attended the inaugural event. The event ended with an interactive Q&A session. (PR)

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Tando Jam

A 4-day training workshop on ‘Satellite Remote Sensing for estimation evapotranspiration’ for Transforming Indus Basin with Climate Resilient Agriculture and Water Management concluded at Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam on Friday.

Mr. Bart Coerver, from Netherlands served as Master Trainer and Mohammad Akasha, Water Management and Hydrology Specialist, as focal persons during the workshop organized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The experts from Sindh Agriculture University Sub-Campus Umerkot, Agriculture Extension Sindh, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro, SIDA, Water Management, Irrigation Department and Farm Water Management Sindh participated in training program, and the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering provided the technical assistance and laboratory facilitates.

Vice Chancellor Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Dr. Fateh Marri distributed certificates among the participants hailing from different organizations and institutions of the province.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Vice Chancellor Dr. Fateh Marri said that in the future we may face more water shortage problems, so the technology of growing crops with less water should be known to common farmers, while the use of modern satellite technology is indispensable to prevent wastage of water.

Dr. Marri said that we have to convince the farmers that water should be used according to the needs of the crops, and its wastage should be avoided.

He said that we have to start from now to introduce modern technologies to our progressive and small farmers, like water monitoring, forecasting of weather conditions through Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) and Geographical Information System (GIS), which will play vital role in the developed agriculture, to protect our future generations from the effects of water shortage.

On this occasion, Dean of Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Dr. Altaf Ali Siyal also expressed his views. (PR)

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Tando Jam

The 3-day capacity building training workshop on the ‘Preparation of Resettlement Action Plan’ under the Institutional Strengthening of Project Coordination & Monitoring Unit (PCMU) for Water-related policies & Practices, focusing Sindh Water & Agriculture Transformation (SWAT) Project, started here on Wednesday.

The workshop is hosted by Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam, in collaboration with Project Coordination and Monitoring Unit, Planning and Development, Government of Sindh.

The workshop is organized to train the officers of different departments of Government of Sindh, including Agricultural Research and Extension, Agricultural Marketing, Irrigation, Sindh Irrigation & Drainage Authority, AWB, Planning & Development and others for improving water management and agriculture in the future.

At the outset, Dr. Jam Ghulam Murtaza Sahito, Training Organizer said that this is the first of the four trainings to be organized by Sindh Agriculture University, in collaboration with PCMU, P&D Govt. of Sindh. There will be 9 interactive technical sessions in this training workshop for university experts, agriculture, irrigation, P&D and SIDA officials, followed by question-and-answer sessions.

Vice Chancellor, Sindh Agriculture University, Dr. Fateh Marri speaking at the opening session said that the effects of rains and floods will continue to be seen for a long time, therefore better planning is needed to complete projects for the rehabilitation of agriculture and people in Sindh.

Dr. Marri said that the rehabilitation of agriculture in Sindh and the infrastructure destroyed due to floods should be carried out keeping in mind the potential disasters. “The issues of better use of water and underwater agricultural resources need to be solved on a prospective basis.”

He said that due to the lack of proper strategy in the RBOD and LBOD projects, they have not yet reached to completion, due to which the floods of 2010, 2011 and 2022 could not be dealt with.

He said that we have to adopt alternative methods of agriculture while experimenting with canal agriculture as well as arid agriculture.

Ghulam Mustafa Ujjan, General Manager SIDA, said that experts and administrative heads and delegates from various institutions have been included in this workshop, and this training workshop will yield positive results, and especially for flood victims and irrigation related matters.

Dr. Islamuddin Rajput, Director, Agricultural Extension said that the Sindh Agriculture University and the agricultural and extension institutions of the province will jointly formulate new proposals for the maintenance of agriculture and irrigation.

Manzoor Ahmed Baloch, Director General, Agriculture Marketing Sindh, said that due to floods, agricultural production costs have increased, while certified seeds are also a major issue.

Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar, Director, University Advancement and Financial Assistance said that plans, projects, budget and expenses will also be determined on this occasion.

Dr. Tahmina Nagraj, Sarfraz Ahmed Bhutto, Dr. Zahid Oad, Ayaz Ali Jalalani, Miss Afshan, Miss Shakeela Leghari, Aftab Memon, Tariq Dahraj and others also spoke on this occasion. (PR)

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