Arid University Takes ICT initiatives for Agriculture Development

A seminar held in Islamabad on Thursday, 17th was organized by the Pir Mehar A li Shah- Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) in collaboration with Switch Communication Pvt. Ltd. The seminar focused on the role of Information and communication technology (ICT) development in agriculture sector in Pakistan.

Arid University Takes ICT initiatives for Agriculture Development  

 On the occasion, PMAS-AAUR, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, was the chief guest while CEO Switch Communication Abrar Khan, PMAS-AAUR Deans, Directors, faculty members and large number of students were also present.

Speakers at the seminar discussed how the use of ICT in agriculture sector can help to enhance agricultural production. Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad stressed on the need for ICT access for farming community and said that adoption of ICT and telecom value added services by rural community can bring revolution in the agriculture production

The main aim was to promote ‘Ba-Khabar Kissan” project, an ICT application for farmers. This application would be accessible over the telecom medium by every farmer of Pakistan. With Ba-Khabar Kisan project/mobile APP farmers will have access to the latest farming techniques, cures of diseases, information regarding livestock to be used for a specific crop, Weather information, Soil testing, Crop insurance, Fertilizers & pesticides application, Horticultural practices and every information which is essential for  farmers to increase the yield and profitability.

CEO, Switch Communication Abrar Khan. In his address, informed the gathering about the aims and objectivs of this project and said that Switch Communication Pvt. Ltd, is Pakistan’s leading value-added-services & solutions provider with a vision to provide quality services to mobile operators and consumers across the globe.

The MoU signed between PMAS-AAUR and Switch Communication stated that the signing parties will work together in terms of knowledge sharing regarding modern and practical agricultural practices and allied information. This information provided by the University will be spread at a mass scale among the farmers as a joint venture of both parties using the telecom platform of Mobilink.