HYDERABAD: Sindh Minister for Agriculture Mohammad Ismail Rahu has said that around 100,000 growers have been provided guidance and information about modern agriculture through a centre established in his department. The centre had started working in November 2018, he said, adding that documentaries were being shown to growers from rural areas.

The minister was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a mobile app, developed by the agriculture extension centre, in the ofñce of the agriculture extension director general here on Thursday.

Mr Rahu said that such centres had already been established in Mirpurkhas and Larkana whereas another one in Sukkur was near completion.

He said close contacts should be established with growers for which special guidelines had been pre-pared for capacity-building of field assistants so that they could provide information and give better advice to growers.

With enhanced capacity, field workers would establish and maintain close contacts with farmers and guide them about a better yield of their crops as well as protection of their produce from diseases, pests etc in tune with modern times.

The minister said that in order to make reporting of field assistants modern and online, this app was developed. He said the ICT agriculture extension system had been introduced by the department and it would be extended to district level for the benefit of growers.

Agriculture secretary Abdul Rahim Soomro said that the department was trying its best to ensure provision of timely guidance to growers.

At the ceremony, booklets containing information about various crops were provided to field assistants from different districts.