HYDERABAD: Sindh Agriculture University Teachers Association president Dr Pir Ahmed Naqi Shah on Monday said that the institution was facing a financial crisis and was unable to face the challenges. He said the crunch was badly impacting the academic and research activities on campus.

In a statement, Mr Shah pointed out that serving teachers were not getting their remuneration, promotions and long-awaited dues. Retired teachers, officers and employees were also not getting their post-retirement dues, he said.

He said SAU had been contributing a lot in terms of research on integrated farming, climate-smart agriculture, soil status, desertification, land management, fisheries, livestock, nutrition, horticulture, floriculture, poultry and other challenging subjects. He said the people associated with SAU had potential to help policymakers in promoting the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sectors which provided livelihood to people on a large scale.

Dr Shah said SAU was producing a number of scientists every year in various fields to serve the country and many of them were serving major seed management, pesticide and fertilizer companies, as well as research institutes.

He wondered that despite the contribution, the authorities concerned seemed reluctant to help the university in such a difficult time.

He urged the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Sindh government to grant Rs1bn on an emergency basis to pull the university out of crisis. He claimed the shortage of funds had been persisting for the last few years. The grant, he added, would help the university achieve its goals of research, quality education and technology transfer for sustainable agriculture.

Besides producing scholars, SAU was working with rural communities in the fields of agriculture, livestock and fisheries and educating the youth to enable them to initiate entrepreneurship.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2021