Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Syed Murtaza Mahmud has stressed to improve agricultural productivity through farm mechanization and promote agricultural credit for rural economies specially to purchase modern technologies. He expressed these views while addressing a five day international training course on productivity gainsharing in Agribusiness Enterprises here on Monday. He was of the view that converting raw produce into value added products like fruit pulping and fruit dehydration can promote agribusiness. He said regional skills development programs for rural youth can address the need of the productive workforce. He stressed on the use of productive irrigation methods like drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, ptimum use of Intermediate inputs like fertilizers, seeds and pesticides for better produce of crops. He suggested to promote low cost enterprise development programs like honey bee keeping and floriculture etc. in order to create employment opportunities for the rural youths. The minister appreciated the APO’s role in the development of Asia-Pacific region and said it is 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. He said this training course will provide knowledge on the application of gainsharing tools and share best practices to make agribusiness enterprises more productive and profitable. Gainsharing has the potential to contribute to agricultural productivity as farmers are empowered, actors in supply chains are motivated to create increased feeling of ownership, and companies receive greater profits due to higher productivity and enhanced efficiency throughout supply chains. Successful gainsharing plans result in quality and productivity improvements of employees. He deliberated that representing the Ministry of Industries & Production, we own and owe a mission to “To Achieve Efficient, Sustainable and Inclusive Industrial Development”. To play the role of facilitator in industrial development and entrepreneurship through policy intervention, setting up Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones for investors, skill development of human resource for industrial sector and socio-economic development of country with particular focus on SME development and promotion of traditional crafts of Pakistan. Currently Pakistan is facing many external and internal challenges which are further compounded by existing commodity super cycle and geopolitical situation. He further added that the challenge is to better integrate small scale farmers into markets so that they can make the agricultural sector stronger. Experience shows that when a country’s agricultural sector is not competitive, there is greater reliance on imports and less agriculture-driven poverty reduction in rural areas. We also look forward to enhance productivity of our agriculture sector, based on mutual learning and showing the rest of the world, how, APO member countries can work together for innovation and development; and also be mentors for other countries of the world, he added. Tadahisa Manabe, Head, APO Secretariat, Tokyo expressed his sincere gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for their sincere efforts to continue Productivity Movement and in developing first ever National Productivity Master Plan for Pakistan. He also appreciated the efforts of APO Country Director for his strong leadership and support; and NPO head for his keen interest. He also mentioned the APO & NPO team for their efforts for Productivity enhancement in the region. CEO NPO, Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry thanked Honorable Federal Minister for Industries and Production and Tadahisa Manabe Head, APO Secretariat and Secretary MoIP for their presence and time. He welcomed all the participants, resource persons. He said that it is worth indicating that two other APO member countries i.e. Bangladesh and Vietnam, in the recent past, got their National Productivity Master Plan developed, as desired by the top leadership of their countries, with assistance of the APO, Japan. The Master Plan will provide strategic framework required to enhance productivity in Pakistan. He informed that NPO is working on Productivity Measurement system resulting in Productivity linked wages. It is also pertinent to mention that National Productivity Master Plan will lead to next phase of NPO’s Productivity Movement i.e. “Improving Competitiveness through Sustainable National Productivity.
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