Chairman, Standing Committee on Horticulture and Agriculture Produce, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Ahmad Jawad, has called for preparing a balanced and comprehensive plan to transform the lives of farmers. Speaking at a session on Tuesday, he said that research was important in the agriculture sector as "we have to see how we can make our agriculture more scientific and increase productivity".
Jawad said that farmers needed crop-specific information according to land types and solutions according to their budgets. "There is a clear need for advice on crop plan to improve return on investment," he added. He said that farmers' access to relevant information and adoption of ICT and telecom value-added services by rural community could bring revolution in the agriculture production.
He said that more mobile-based applications were needed for making better use of telecommunication technology in agriculture. "I believe cellphone usage is common in the rural areas of Punjab, Sindh and KPK as evident by the telecom indicators and survey results. Therefore, mobile applications are extremely well suited for communication between farmers and service providers," he added. The advice of field assistants/agriculture officers was considered reliable, but farmers also depended on the experience of fellow farmers. This, he added was interesting as it demonstrated the power of networks and supported the building of larger mobile-based communities where farmers could benefit from the experience of farmers. Similarly, he said that within the government system, there was weak linkage between the Directorate of Agriculture Extension and Adaptive Research, the Directorate of Agriculture Information and district governments.
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