HYDERABAD, May 14: The Vice-Chancellor of the Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Dr Bashir Ahmed Shaikh, has said that irrigation infrastructure must be both efficient and reliable to minimise unnecessary wastage of water.

He said that the infrastructure must be well-maintained to ensure safety standards.

He was speaking at the closing ceremony of a workshop on “Efficient Use of Land and Water Resources for Poverty Alleviation”.

The workshop was jointly organised by the SAU and the HEC at the Z.A. Bhutto Agriculture College, Dokri on Saturday.

About 50 farmers participated in the workshop and received certificates from the vice-chancellor.

Resource persons of the workshop included Prof (Dr) Hussain Bux Bhutto, Prof (Dr) Nisar Memon and Engineer Riasat Ali Kubar.

The vice-chancellor said that water was a basic resource and only 0.3 per cent water was available for the world’s population to share for agricultural, residential, manufacturing and community needs.

He said that the population and demand for freshwater resources were increasing while supplies remain constant.

He said that water efficiency was the long-term ethic of conserving water resources through the employment of water-saving technologies.

Mr Shaikh said that through efficient use of water it would be ensured that it would be available for future generations.

The vice-chancellor said that global climatic changes had given new introduction of climate and weather hence the irrigation system must be modified to ensure production in given situation.

Experts said that the agricultural sector was coming under growing pressure to make more efficient use of water.

They said that the agriculture sector had been blamed to be the greatest water user with the lowest water use efficiency and the lowest output per unit of water used by all other sectors.

Our Larkana correspondent adds: Dr Bashir Sheikh said that the university was planning to hold workshops to train women working shoulder to shoulder with men in agriculture fields.

He called upon 50 trained farmers and officers of the college to prepare plans for the judicious use of water and land by adopting modern methodologies and technologies.

He underlined joint and coordinated efforts to fight against water theft and corrupt irrigation officers.

Prof (Dr) Hussain Bakhsh Bhutto said water resources were falling short to meet population needs.

He said that in 2025 there would be drastic shortage of sweet water in the country where demand for bringing more lands under cultivation was increasing.

He said that at present the country’s economy was experiencing distress as water resources had squeezed and with the passage of time they would further diminish.

He said that time had come to revamp the existing irrigation system.

He called for adopting modern methods to cultivate maximum land with minimum water resources.

The vice-chancellor also distributed certificates among farmers who attended the workshop.