Sindh Agriculture University Organizes Webinar On Floods

Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tando Jam in collaboration with Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi Thursday organized a special webinar on "Floods 2022: Situation, Response, Blind Spots, and Way Forward".

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Sep, 2022 ) :Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tando Jam in collaboration with Centre for business and Economic Research (CBER) and Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi Thursday organized a special webinar on "Floods 2022: Situation, Response, Blind Spots, and Way Forward".

Addressing the webinar, Chairman Higher education Commission Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that the commission had created a sizable research fund to support evidence-based and solution-oriented research to address current and future natural disasters.

He said that the country's universities, researchers and experts had great responsibilities to open new doors to problem-oriented research, adding special decisions would be made for the students of all the universities in that regard.

Former Federal Secretary, Planning Commission Fazallilah Qureshi termed the floods as a national catastrophe but of different magnitude in different parts of the country .

Vice Chancellor, Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam Dr. Fateh Marri briefed about the status of current situation of the disaster and urged to introduce late varieties of different crops and short-duration crops in the country besides launching the farmers' guidance programmers.

He expressed his concern over loss of economic activity, future productions, missed opportunities and the limited capacity of human resources as a result of the current disaster.

Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad DR. Iqbal Ahmed Khan said that drainage was the main issue of Sindh due to its location and it required attention.

He suggested to include feeds of livestock in the relief items of the affected households.

Dr. Mubarik Ahmed from TDAP said that the agriculture losses to the country were huge and among other crops, some 80 percent of the cotton in Sindh and 100 percent of the crop in Balochistan were affected.

He warned that the disaster would result in reducing export and increase dependence on foods and seed imports.

Dr. Abdul Rehman talked about damages to cities and pointed toward increased incidences of domestic violence, child labor, and various forms of harassment that often slip from disaster response initiatives.

Naseer Memon said that the encroachment in the rural and urban areas was the cause of the flood-induced disaster and held weak institutional capacity and lack of political will was responsible for that.

Dr. Shereen Narejo, Former Chairperson of Sindh Planning, and Development Department said that the issue of population growth was often missed in climate discourse and emphasized that the disaster was our collective problem and required collective action.