Workshop promotes productivity in agriculture sector
In an effort to improve productivity in the agriculture sector, National Productivity Organization (NPO), Pakistan has organized a five-day workshop in collaboration with the Asian Productivity Organization ( APO) Japan.
The objective of the workshop was to introduce the latest innovative trends, technologies and branding techniques used globally for value-added agriculture, said a press release issued here.
International experts from Malaysia and Sri Lanka along with renowned local experts having decades of experience in agriculture are brought on board to conduct the workshop, share their experiences and inculcate knowledge to the participants. 17 participants from nine countries and 10 local participants are attending the workshop.
Abdul Ghaffar Khattak, CEO, NPO, sharing his views with media, appreciated efforts of the Asian Productivity Organization, Japan, which has been working for productivity enhancement in the Asia Pacific since 1961.
He highlighted smart transformation initiatives of APO for agriculture, industry and service sectors in its member economies. The APO has conducted numerous projects for the development of agriculture sector in its member countries.
Khattak said one such recent initiative is development of Smart Agricultural Transformation Framework ( ATF) for the APO Member economies which aimed to serve as a useful reference and enable member countries to take the next step and develop their country specific ATF.
He said APO ATF emphasized that food security and public health have a direct correlation and are important indicators of the quality of life in a country, while reflecting its economic development status.
The availability of critical natural resources such as land and water for agricultural and food production has been declining at a steady pace in most APO member countries. This widening gap between food demand and the natural resources available to support agriculture, climate change and extreme weather conditions, and social issues like changing rural demographics and aging populations pose a serious threat to future food security.
He said hence it is imperative for policymakers and planners, farmers, and businesses to embrace modern technologies at all levels for smart agriculture processes and management. By using technology as a sustainable, scalable resource, agriculture could be transformed into a future-proof industry including productive, sustainable food value chains, he added.
However, he said NPO Pakistan is playing a pivotal role in institutional capacity building on productivity.
Major challenges faced by Pakistan are lack of knowledge of the links between productivity tools and techniques and real-world problems at the firm level, minimum exposure to the latest information on organizational management techniques to boost productivity at the micro-organizational level, and better regulatory management in relation to productivity enhancement.
Any efforts to address these challenge must be carried out systematically, continuous in nature, and employ an integrated approach to embrace all sectors. Concerted efforts are therefore needed to equip human resource with sufficient productivity knowledge to transform Pakistan into a productivity-driven economy, he concluded.