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15 of Pakistan’s top agriculture technology companies attended a stakeholder awareness workshop today in Rawalpindi which was hosted by Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD) to discuss ways to renovate agriculture industry in Pakistan by using technology. In this session, PAD and USAID signed an agreement to establish mechanization centers across Punjab to provide technical assistance to local farmers under the project Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity (PATTA).
Representatives of these 15 agri-tech companies discussed the mechanization in the agriculture sector during the session. The companies also discussed how they can make their tech products affordable, effective and suitable for farmers across the province.
On this occasion, Chief of USAID’s PATTA project, Dr. Daney Johnson while talking about the target of USAID to boost the productivity of agri-tech companies in Pakistan stated;
“We aim to bring about an increase of 20 million USD in sales for these agri-technology companies of Pakistan within this 4-year period. For this, it is critical to ensure private sector manufactures bring about an adoption of agri-technology that scales productivity.”
While speaking about the need to fulfill the growing demand of food both locally and globally, Dr. Ghazanfer Ali Additional Secretary of PAD stressed that modern technology methods should be applied in horticulture and livestock fields. As he stated;
“USAID has always been a partner in helping Punjab’s agriculture sector expand its sales, we hope to see this continue through these awareness sessions. Transfer of technical know-how, global agriculture best practices and technological essentials in high tech mechanization are the most critical parts of a USAID intervention with businesses in agriculture.”
The session concluded with many useful recommendations for PAD and USAID from several agri-tech companies and many agriculture industry experts.
