AGRICULTURE EDUCATION: A VISION FOR CHANGE

Agriculture has always played a vital role in socio-economic development of the people. It is the primary source of employment, livelihood, and food security for the majority of population. The agriculture of Pakistan in general and Sindh in particular is exposed to a number of problems ranging from  national at grassroots to international levels, from poor yields to marketability of commodities, water shortages to conservation,  from grading to set world quality norms, and from indiscriminate use of pesticides to biological control. The yield of major crops like cereal production has decreased due to variety of reasons. The most significant appear to be ecological changes and timely availability of the inputs including water, unhealthy and non-resistant germplasm etc. The World Trade Organization (WTO) regime has become another most critical challenge for Pakistan and other developing countries. Its implications on agriculture, undoubtedly, surpass all other threats confronted by other sectors of economy.

Food security assurance for ever increasing population of Pakistan warrants to formulate new long term policies horizontally and vertically and embark upon the new projects in agriculture to cater to the needs of the rising population in the next 25-50 years. It has to increase cereal production by at least 40 percent over the next 25 years to meet needs for food, livestock feed, and fiber crops. Similarly, production of all other major food products shall have to be increased to keep pace with population growth and subsequent demand. The per capita agricultural land continues to shrink along with depletion of the increased resources. The continued and un-ending problems of salinity and deforestation are also the challenges to be faced with. Above all, the water scarcity will become more acute over the years due to global warming and loss of glaciers. Some of the current problems encountered in the agriculture productivity are non-availability of high yielding and disease, insect and pest free elite stock for seedling/seed.

The breakthrough innovations in digital revolution are the main challenges for higher education institutions in Pakistan. The rise of internationalization, globalization of economies, knowledge and culture and the concept of life long learning give a distinctive character to higher education at national and international level. Internationalization has put university education in the forefront of the world educational map. Thus our universities and institutions will be required to revamp their programs to meet the international standards and produce market-oriented graduates equipped with knowledge to face rapidly changing and challenging environment.

As a matter of fact, the higher education is a capital intensive investment and is of paramount importance for economic and social development of the country. It is more so when it comes to Agriculture and its involvement and contribution in the national economy.

Percentage Share of Employed Labor Force by Sector (2003-04)

It is evident that the agriculture plays an important role in providing employment opportunities. The institutions of higher education have the principal responsibility for needed manpower well equipped with advanced knowledge and skills required for positions of responsibility in both the public and private organizations. Only highly educated manpower with updated knowledge can handle advanced technology & innovations. Thus, without the participation of well-qualified manpower, the process of economic development cannot be accelerated. Thus, the Agriculture Universities possess the potential and can emerge as the nurseries of human resource development coupled with a strong research base. The priorities of agricultural education at the university level should be redefined and identified and used as a basis for future leaders in agriculture. Persons filling the positions would be expected to develop a program in the focused area accompanied by teaching, research and extension activities, selecting and by appropriate staff that must possess demonstrated capability of leadership.

Agricultural education per se is a broad based multi disciplinary domain, focusing on needs assessment, formal and informal teaching approaches, curriculum planning and development, instructional and program delivery approaches, application of educational technology, instructional evaluation, appropriateness of education, policy issues related to education in agriculture based institutional organizations, and management of agricultural institutions in domestic and international settings. It must be borne in mind that a discipline cannot be strengthened without verifying the existing knowledge as well as creating new knowledge. Research must always be the strongest component of a discipline serving as a foundation for teaching and extension.

There is a dire need to develop broad based agricultural education curricula including newly emerging disciplines like biotechnology, biological diversity and genetic resources, agricultural production systems compatible with the environment, understanding diet, human nutrition and health relationships, competitiveness of national agriculture, genetic improvement or modification of economically important crops and livestock, safety and quality of food products, potential effects of global climate changes on agriculture, livestock fisheries and forest productivity.

Rising green house effect over the years which has drastically affected the ecosystems causing the melting of polar ice caps, prima frost and glaciers has already resulted in the setting of a chain of events, beginning with the rising seal level and ending with the destruction of potable water supplies, forests, livestock and agriculture in many parts of the world. Subjects relevant to such a situation should also be included in the curricula and programs at the universities.

Multidisciplinary approaches will be needed to identify many of the market –oriented disciplines. For example, business management courses may be included in crop and livestock production courses. Joint international consultancy and bilateral link programs provide a means for collaborative research on national and international problems and issues and at the same time help to internationalize the teaching and research functions.

Agricultural centers of excellence are yielding new technologies and agricultural education can be helpful in technology transfer activities by being a part of interdisciplinary teams. Fields in which agricultural centers of excellence, emerging on university campuses, can  make a significant  contribution which may include sustainable agriculture, indigenous genetic resources conservation, water resources management, biosaline research, food quality and safety, computer science, bioinformatics, rural development, agri-business management, agricultural products processing, biotechnology, arid zone development, soil tilth and soil enrichment, integrated pest management, aquaculture, integrated management, energy and environment, and women’s issues in small scale agriculture.

Another important objective of agriculture education is to embark upon research on various agricultural issues and disseminate appropriate technologies aimed at decreasing cost of production and increasing production by generating income for reducing dependence. To achieve the international standards, it is imperative to readdress and strengthen research activities at university level. The research therefore, be focused in applied sciences of agriculture and education and be adhered to the national research agenda followed by its inclusion in the development plans at national level. The discovery of new knowledge will not necessarily improve a discipline, the systematic delivery and application of the new knowledge being equally important must be embarked upon with similar commitment. Model agricultural education programs that feature the new knowledge can facilitate use of research findings.

University education’s challenge is to develop academic programs with high impact. This will require teams of dedicated faculty working on relevant problems in a sustained manner which must yield clear solutions, and such research can form an important basis of agricultural education. Here, it must be added that even the best curricula and textbooks cannot produce results if well-trained teachers are not available and are not professionally committed and dedicated. Priority therefore should be given to improve the quality of teaching and research. The main target group of the university is the youth between 19-24 years old, which is the critical mass for future leadership of the country. For effective teaching, overcrowding of the students in classroom and laboratories has to be brought down to the level of acceptable numbers duly supported with equipment, audio-visual aids and comfortable and conducive environment. Thus, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam visualizes to excel in producing quality manpower and advanced research and reach out to all the stakeholders to overcome the issues and challenges in the sector.

Looking into the above scenario, the main goal of Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam will be to overcome these challenges through creating conducive academic and research environment at Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam to produce well equipped manpower in agriculture and allied sciences and to meet the international standards of education and research aimed at to bring a quantum jump in yields and production and to alleviate poverty particularly in rural Pakistan. To overcome the issues and challenges lying ahead, the education need to be goal oriented characterized by short term objectives and long term targets which may be as follows:

Making existing laboratories of various departments functional through repair of sick equipment provision of state-of-the-art equipment for advanced research; increased enrollment at undergraduate and postgraduate level to meet human resources demand, revision of curriculum to meet the needs of employers/clientele in public and private sector; improved evaluation system of theses, and defense examinations, digitization of library by equipping with latest books, journals, official records (both hard and electronic copies) computerized administrative system including, accounts, admissions, examinations and farms and identification of focused areas of academic and research activity and development of research proposals for national and international funding. The long term may however, be to establish new departments/centers in emerging sciences; Improvement in skills through foreign and local trainings to faculty and administrative staff renovation and construction of new buildings to house faculty, students and staff creation and development new institutes through deserving and establishment, improve and enhance transportation system; establishment of repair and maintenance workshops for electro-mechanical laboratory equipment and automobiles, provision  and construction of physical fitness centers through modern sports complex for both male and female students and the staff strengthening of existing telecommunication system improvement in basic Infra-structure; Initiation and institutionalization of participatory activity with farmers and stakeholders.

One of the important objectives of Sindh Agriculture University is to embark upon quality research on agricultural issues in Pakistan and to disseminate and deliver such information to farmers to increase agricultural productivity and to provide food security, rural development and alleviation of poverty. At present country population has gone over 149 million. Growing at the same pace, it would be well over 180 million by year 2010. Out of total reported area of 59.47 million hectares, 4.04 million hectares (6.79%) are under forests, 24.32 million hectares (40.89%) are unculturable, 9.0 million hectares (15.13%) are culturable waste and 22.11 million hectares (37.18%) are cultivated. It is reported that 37.6 percent of gross command area is waterlogged, of which 15% is seriously waterlogged. The survey of salinity indicates 25% of gross command area is slightly to severely waterlogged. Arable land on one hand is becoming affected by water logging and salinity and on the other hand it is being intensively cropped. The water resources to meet domestic irrigation and industrial water supplies amount to about 142 million acre feet (MAF) per annum. Recent drought in the country has reduced the water supply by 30 to 40 % of the available water resources. Irrigated agriculture of Sindh is badly affected from this shortage since fresh ground water source of Sindh is not more than 10% because of the saline groundwater underlain 75 % of the area. It is not out of place to mention that with these available land and water resources, agricultural production and per capita availability of nutrients are almost going side by side. Present pace of agricultural development and available culturable land and irrigation water pose serious problem to meet food & shelter demands of the ever increasing population and to provide raw material to agro-based industries in the near future.

Percentage Land Utilization of Pakistan 2002-03

It is therefore, imperative to exploit our land and water resources to meet the future demands. Nearly 6.91, 5.2, 3.159 and over 4 mha are lying as culturable waste, water logged, saline and desert lands, respectively. These lands are our future land bank, which when exploited scientifically can add to crop, forestry and livestock sub-sector of Pakistan. Sindh Agriculture University is entrusted to focus on the quality research to address the national issues by exploiting the potential of our future land banks to ensure food security and to alleviate poverty in the country. The following must be the major thrust areas of activity:

Develop strategies to produce quality seed including hybrids to achieve high yield potential, Conservation of germplasm (plant and animals), Conserve water through efficient use of irrigation application methods such as drip, sprinkler, bubbler, border, furrow and rain harvesting and ponding to develop waste lands, Develop salt water tolerant crops, shrubs, trees and grass inventory for introduction and growth in waterlogged and saline lands, Development of desert lands using brackish groundwater through highly efficient pressurized irrigation systems like drip, bubblers and sprinklers. Exploit potential of agriculture in coastal area of Sindh to generate income of the farmers of the area, Conserve and develop indigenous cattle, buffalo, camel and small ruminants’ germplasm, Improve livestock production potential through Artificial Insemination and embryo transfer technology, Restructuring of organizational setup of the university, Development and strengthening of human resource base, Provision and facilitation of infra-structure, Establish “Agriculture Advisory Services" at SAU Tandojam, Salvation and conservation of threatened animal genetic resources, Quality assurance, learning reliability and innovative dissemination of information, Weather forecasting and monitoring of agriculture information, Technology transfer and dissemination of information, Student counseling and placement services.

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