PESHAWAR: Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in collaboration with Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB) organized a one-day training workshop on agricultural farming in Karak.

The workshop organized under National Business Development Programme (NBDP) of SMEDA was aimed to motivate people to invest in fruit orchards compatible to the environment of southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as having value chain development potential.

The session was especially organized on the request of private schools of the district Karak. Majority of the participants were school owners having abundant agricultural land.

Coordinator NBDP, Firdous gave detailed briefing to the participants about the project while Dr. Azmat Awan (Senior Officer PODB) and Shahsawar Khan (an agricultural expert) in the presentation highlighted farming and processing potential of dates, figs and grapes.

The chief guest Brigadier, Sher Daraz Khattak (retd) stressed the need for organizing more such training programmes across the province and termed holding separate training session for private schools a good idea. He said that such training will help them to utilize waste land for best purpose and besides proving a source of earning and help in practical exposure of their students to positive activities.

The participants termed workshop very beneficial and requested SMEDA for holding more similar professional trainings regarding Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and taxation related matters. At the end of the workshop, the chief guest planted a Turkish fig to formally start plantation campaign by private schools in the district.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021