Tando Jam varsity gets equipment upgrade

GIS, remote sensing lab set up at Sindh Agriculture University

HYDERABAD:

A Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing lab has been established at the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tando Jam.

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Dean Prof Dr Altaf Siyal told The Express Tribune that the lab is equipped with 20 workstations with dual monitors and the i7, 8th generation processors of 2.57Ghz.

He expressed hope that the GIS facility will help build the capacity of the faculty members, officials of the Sindh agriculture department, technical staff of different government organisations and other stakeholders.

He added that users will have access to the monitors to map the natural resources of Sindh like forests, water, crops, vegetation and wetlands, among other things.

Prof Siyal said the lab will provide technical assistance in the development of geo-spatial maps of cropping patterns, soil variability, temporal groundwater depth and quality variations in the province.

He said that the lab will also give technical assistance to the government on emergent natural hazards which severely affected the agriculture sector.

The lab, set up at a cost of Rs11.54 million, has been funded by Agriculture Supply and Prices Department of Sindh government. It is also equipped with a 5KV solar system.

According to the dean, he has planned to launch a one-year diploma course in application of GIS and remote sensing in the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering. Besides, the undergraduate and postgraduate, students of the SAU can also avail the facility.

It warrants mention that a smaller GIS lab with only four computers was first established at SAU by Prof Siyal in 2013. But it was closed in less than two years and the computers were distributed among different faculties as Prof Siyal had then joined Mehran University of Engineering and Technology.

At MUET, Prof Siyal set up a bigger lab with 20 dual monitor workstations. When he returned to SAU, he began working on the plan of setting up a similar lab in that agriculture university as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2023.