LAHORE: National Productivity Organization (NPO), Pakistan in collaboration with Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Tokyo, Japan opened a 4 - day international workshop on Improving Agricultural Productivity through Mechanization.
The opening ceremony held at a local hotel was attended by Sikandar M. khan, Chairman Millat Tractors as Chief Guest. Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry, CEO of NPO presented address of welcome on this occasion.
The workshop was attended by 19 overseas participants from 10 APO member countries, along with a number of local participants and sessions. International resource speakers from Japan, Thailand and Pakistan shared their expertise with the participants.
The main aim of this workshop is to promote understanding of the latest technologies and measures for mechanization in agriculture, policies and frameworks to support mechanization on small farms. Farm mechanization is viewed as a package of technology to ensure
timely field operations, increased productivity, reduced crop losses and improved quality of grain or product.
Chief Guest Sikandar Mustafa, Chairman, Millat group of companies, in his address appreciated the APO’s role in the development of Asia-Pacific region. He further deliberated that it is time to revitalize our commitment and to strive to achieve APO’s vision of “Inclusive, innovation-led productivity growth in the Asia-Pacific”.
He welcomed the international delegates and conveyed his gratitude to APO and NPO for addressing this important topic he further added that working
in tandem with APO, Pakistan will be able to find solutions to long-standing issues of the productivity.
Toshinori Mitsunaga, program officer Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo, Japan expressed deep gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for their sincere efforts to continue Productivity Movement.
He also appreciated the efforts of APO Country Director for his strong leadership and support; and NPO head for the keen interest. He also appreciated the ideal collaboration of the APO & NPO teams for Productivity enhancement in the region. Mitsunaga apprised the participants about the APO’s Journey of success stories and major achievements in the region.
CEO NPO Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry thanked the chief guest Chairman, Millat group of companies and APO Program officer for their participation in the inaugural ceremony. He said that Vision of MoI&P is to “To Achieve Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Industrial Development.” With an estimated 48 million hectares of arable land, there exists a sizeable potential for improving efficiencies, yield, and productivity of the agriculture sector with better farm equipment and machinery”, he said adding that
the Government of Pakistan was committed to support this sector to achieve high targets of productivity.
He was optimistic that the country can increase yields and exports of primary crops, fruit and vegetables, poultry, and dairy products - and in doing so become an important supplier for the region.
To achieve this objective, he said, the government is encouraging increasing private-sector interventions and investment by offering several direct and indirect assistance programs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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