Agriculture experts from different countries and representatives of well-know world organisations on Monday started deliberations to devise a proper mechanism to reach out farmers at their door-steps and provide them technical and scientific knowledge to boost crop production and ensure food security in future.
The experts have gathered at five-day workshop titled “Identifying Sustainable Agriculture Technologies and Translating Research Findings into Information Accessible to Extension Workers and Farmers” at National Agriculture Research Council (NARC). The workshop has been organised by Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) in collaboration with Centre for Alleviation of Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA) Indonesia, Food Security Centre (FSC), University of Hohenheim Germany, Sustainable Agriculture Technologies Network (SATNET) Asia and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Islamabad.
“Mostly the technical and scientific knowledge remained in shelves that should be provided to the farmers to enhance productivity,” remarked Chairman PARC, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed while inaugurating the workshop. He said that agriculture scientists must develop a proper mechanism to provide technical and scientific knowledge to the farmers at their door-steps to help increase crop production and make the country food secure in future.
He was of the view that collective efforts and wisdom was needed to achieve self-sufficiency in agriculture sector and ensure food security adding the workshop can be one of the instruments to develop mechanism for accessible information for extension workers and farmers.
He appreciated the role of international agencies for organising such events in Pakistan, saying that it would help reduce the knowledge gap between researchers and enhancing the capacity of the extension workers. He said that the workshop targets two types of participants, firstly researchers and scientists who produce and exchange research-based technical knowledge and secondly the extension workers who disseminate useful and practical information related to agriculture and engage in practical application of the newer useful knowledge to farmers and households.
Speaking on the occasion, Martina Spisiakova of CAPSA Indonesia and Simone Kathrin Kreisemer of FSC Germany highlighted the role of key partners to identify sustainable agricultural technologies and effectively translating for transfer to end-users. DG NARC, Dr Muhammad Azeem, while speaking on the occasion said that translating knowledge into practice was always a big challenge for researchers as well as development partners. He expressed the hope that the workshop will help participants to acquire sufficient skills for effectively translating new knowledge to the farmers. The workshop would also enhance participants’ analysis and communication skills, share best practices, learn to write targeted knowledge about products and better engage in policy dialogue to influence their key stakeholders.
