May 29, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 28: Federal Minister for Information Technology Qamaruz Zaman Kaira on Wednesday said every town in the country having a minimum population of 10,000 would be connected with fibre optic by the end of this year.

Speaking at a training workshop on the indigenous data mining tools here at FAST National University, the minister said the government was determined to provide internet infrastructure to the rural areas which would help people, particularly farmers, remain updated.

Mr Kaira said the government was hiring services of consultants and companies for laying down a network of fibre optic in rural parts of the country.

He was also informed that over 45 government departments would be interlinked to enable people to access information about various departments through the internet.

He said introduction of data mining tool in agriculture sector would boost the industry. He appreciated the research work being undertaken by the Centre for Agro-Informatics Research, an advanced research facility at FAST-NU, on Agriculture Decision Support System (ADSS).

Agriculture Decision Support System is one of a kind concept of using information technology to help agriculture decision- making, by not only digitising and cleaning the historic data, but also analysing it using different indigenous tools. The ADSS Data Mining tool is one such tool that helps in discovering non- trivial hidden patterns in the historical data.

The minister regretted that the research and development (R&D) fund of information technology ministry had not been properly used in the past, and directed the authorities concerned to provide maximum funds to universities carrying out research work.

He also announced that computers would be provided to all primary schools, however, he regretted that teachers in schools were themselves not computer literate.

He asked Rector of FAST National University Dr Amir Mohammad to launch a programme through which primary schoolteachers could be trained and assured his ministry’s complete support to him in this regard.

Earlier, the minister was told that over 39 researchers and scientists from over 15 public-sector organisations took part in the data mining tool workshop who would in turn introduce the system in their respective institutions.

Mr Kaira stressed the need to invest in information technology and agriculture in order to reduce poverty in the country, adding that the government was committed to boosting sectors on emergency basis.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Investigator of ADSS and head of Centre for Agro-Informatics Research (CAIR) Dr Ahsan Abdullah said the data mining tool, if implemented, would bring a revolution in the agriculture sector as farmers would get direct access to technology. In this way they would remain well-informed about various developments taking place in the agriculture sector, he added.

Later the participants of the workshop were awarded certificates.