It is a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction to extend my congratulations to the alumni, scientists and staff of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council on its 25 years of excellence in agricultural research, technology dissemination and human resources development.
PARC has successfully pursued its mandate of undertaking, coordinating, promoting, and aiding agriculture research in the country. It has established strong linkages with national and international agricultural research systems in the development and dissemination of new technologies for a more productive and competitive agriculture sector.
It is envisaged in the MTDF to raise the productivity and competitiveness of all sectors of the economy including agriculture through science-based interventions. In the agriculture sector the thrust is on improved productivity, diversification, value addition, marketing and export, efficient use of water and other inputs, and sustainable management of natural resources.
Over the past 25 years, PARC's achievements in the development and dissemination of green revolution technologies, in collaboration with provincial research system, have been well recognised both at home and abroad. Overtime, however, the green revolution technologies have run their course and there is a global shift towards exploiting the potential of gene technology. PARC with its ongoing reform and capacity-building is ready for this shift.
It has already adopted and is implementing an increasingly challenging national research agenda for addressing issues relating to food security, export competitiveness, poverty reduction and environmental protection in the face of an ever increasing population.
It is in this context that PARC has embarked upon a series of reform initiatives. The reforms are aimed at making the PARC's research management system more responsive and efficient and prioritising its research agenda to align it with the emerging needs and challenges of agriculture sector in the 21st century.
THE MAJOR AREAS OF REFORM INCLUDE:
(i) Prioritisation of Research Agenda to align it with the emerging priorities of the agriculture sector;
(ii) Administrative and Financial Reforms with focus on improving the service structure, internal efficiency, governance and financial management including streamlining of administrative and financial procedures;
(iii) Human Resources Development: to introduce performance based management and merit based recruitment and promotion system with track and tenure options, and upgradation of technical skills consistent with needs of new research agenda to develop a new generation of agricultural scientists;
(iv) Stronger Linkages and Partnership with national and international agriculture research systems and other stakeholders including farmers, NGOs, agro-industry, etc. At the occasion of Silver Jubilee, I congratulate all the scientists and staff of PARC for demonstrating their continuing commitment to develop and disseminate technologies which are pro-poor, pro-small farmer, pro-woman and eco-friendly.
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