LAHORE: A four-day international workshop on ‘Improving Agricultural Productivity through Mechanization’ jointly organized by National Productivity Organization (NPO), Pakistan, and Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Tokyo, Japan started at a local hotel on Monday.
The workshop would be attended by 19 overseas participants from 10 APO member countries, 07 local participants and sessions would be delivered by the international resource speakers from Japan, Thailand and Pakistan.
The main aim of this workshop was to promote understanding of the latest technologies and measures for mechanization in agriculture, policies and frameworks to support mechanization on small farms. Farm mechanization was viewed as a package of technology to ensure timely field operations, increased productivity, reduced crop losses and improved quality of grain or product. NPO organizes workshop on improving agri productivity
Addressing the inaugural session as chief guest, Sikandar Mustafa, Chairman of Millat Group of Companies and Millat Tractors, appreciated the APO’s role in the development of Asia-Pacific region. He deliberated that it was time to revitalize our commitment and 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.
Sikandar Mustafa was of the view that working in tandem with APO, Pakistan would be able to find solutions to long-standing issues of the productivity.
NPO was facilitating to complement and strengthen the Ministry’s mandate through its vision “Economically Productive and Globally Competitive Pakistan.” NPO is solely responsible for Productivity & Quality enhancement in Pakistan, he mentioned.
Mr Toshinori Mitsunaga, program officer Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo, Japan expressed his sincere gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for its 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 mentioned the APO & NPO team for their efforts for Productivity enhancement in the region. Mr. Mitsunaga, apprised the participants about the APO’s journey of success stories and major achievements in the region.
CEO NPO Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry thanked Sikandar Mustafa and APO Program officer for their presence and time. He welcomed all the participants, resource persons. He said that Vision of MoI&P (Ministry of Industries and Production) was to achieve efficient, sustainable and inclusive industrial development.” He said 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. The Government of Pakistan was committed to support this sector, with the hope 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, the government was encouraging increasing private-sector interventions, investment by offering several direct and indirect assistance programs.
