A two-day workshop on GIS activities and its impact on agricultural research and development began at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BRAC) auditorium, Dhaka yesterday.
The computerised Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) database maintained at BARC Computer Center, is a bio-physical resource based on land, soil, climate, hydrology and land suitability. It constitutes the foundation for a full-fledged national and sub national planning database.
The GIS project at BARC is the successor of the project implemented during 1980 to 1987 under a previous FAO/UNDP assistance on land resources appraisal. Through this database, GIS so far trained 361 agricultural scientists and policy makers of 54 organisations of the country.
This workshop is a part of the completion of GIS activities.
One hundred and fifty participants from different organisations including extension department and non-government agencies are attending the workshop.
Dr M Nurul Alam, executive chairman (in-charge), BARC inaugurated the workshop. Dr Sk M Erfan Ali, member-director (soils & irrigation), Anwar Iqbal, national project director, GIS project, and Mahboob Ahmed, director, computer center, also spoke at the inaugural session.
