300 agri graduates depart to China for advanced training

 A cohort of around 300 agricultural graduates has left for China on Wednesday to participate in three-month advanced level training on agriculture and livestock technologies. It is the first batch under Prime Minister’s Initiative for Capacity Building of 1000 Agricultural Graduates in China, launched by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

The programme envisages to train young Pakistani agricultural graduates at top Chinese institutions having expertise in key areas of agriculture, fisheries and livestock technology. The first cohort of 300 graduates will attend training course at North West Agriculture & Forestry University and Yangling Vocational and Technical College, which are highly ranked institutions in disciplines of Agriculture, Food Technology and Veterinary Sciences.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reforms Mr. Ahsan Iqbal and senior officials from Federal Ministry for National Food Security and Research and HEC, including Adviser (Scholarships) HEC Muhammad Raza Chohan, attended the departure ceremony held at Islamabad International Airport. Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal congratulated the selected graduates on embarking upon the new academic journey. He underscored Pakistan is among the top 10 agriculture-producing countries of the world, adding that agriculture is the backbone of development in the country and there is a huge potential for growth of the sector.

“Your selection lies a great responsibility upon your shoulders of exploiting this opportunity, learning the best practices in terms of better farm mechanization and utilization of the latest technology, and implementing them in Pakistan,” he underlined, while advising the outbound youth. He said that the training and exposure will equip the graduates with skills, enabling them to play their part in the development of agriculture sector in the country.

Mentioning how China made rapid progress and pulled its people out of poverty, he said political stability and persistency of policies are the imperatives leading towards a country’s progress. He said the Government of Pakistan envisions strengthening of the sector, as Pakistan has to emerge as a net exporter of agriculture products. He advised the trainees to take this opportunity as a mission, play the brand ambassadors of Pakistan in China, and work hard to live up to the confidence resided in them.

The initiative ‘Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Initiative for Capacity Building of 1,000 Agricultural Graduates in China’ is envisioned by the Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif during his last year visit to Yangling Agricultural Technology Demonstration Base in Shaanxi province, China.

Short term training course is designed to get orientation about the evolution of Chinese agriculture and lessons learned, visits of farm field and sites of private and public sector farms, labs and companies set up in China. 

The graduates will also be engaged in hands on practical trainings through workshops in labs and receive class rooms trainings. Training progress of the trainees will also be evaluated and assessed for the acquired skills. HEC, in line with the guidance of Ministry of National Food Security and Research, ensured transparent selection following a rigorous process. Special emphasis was made on giving opportunity to the agriculture graduates from marginalized and far-flung areas including Balochistan.

Expressing their views, the young graduates said that cost of foreign agriculture trainings was expensive which cannot be met without government’s patronage. They thanked Prime Minister for prioritizing and investing in capacity building of field, vital to Pakistan’s growth.

The enthusiastic Pakistani agriculturalists were eager to learn from the highly qualified Chinese faculty and, upon their return, apply their international exposure and acquired knowledge to tackle the pressing challenges of agriculture and food security.