The Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) and Metro Cash & Carry International Holding BV have joined hands to impart agricultural skills training to over 10,000 men and 2000 women of four districts of Southern Punjab. The contract signing ceremony between both the organizations held at the PSDF Lahore Office here the other day.
The Chief Executive Officer (PSDF) Jawad Khan signed the contract with the Managing Director Metro Cash & Carry Marek Minkiewics for imparting agricultural skills training under the scheme of "Big Push for Rural Economy - Agriculture Sector". Director Metro Cash & Carry Pervaiz Akhtar, Head of Legal & Company Secretary Metro Cash & Carry Asad Malik, Chief Operating Officer Star Farm Pakistan, Member of Metro Group Muhammad Zeshan Saqib, Manager Marketing Star Farm Pakistan, Member of Metro Group Hasnain Hyder, Chief Operating Officer PSDF Ali Akbar Bosan and Manager Program Development PSDF Aftab Ahmad were also present at the occasion.
Under the contract Metro Cash & Carry International will provide agricultural skills training to over 10,000 men and 2,000 women of 4 districts of Southern Punjab ie Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh. Both General and Specialized agricultural skills training will be imparted to the active agriculturists who aspire to achieve production complementarities in cotton, wheat & vegetables. With the General agricultural training there will be an expected increase of 10 percent- 15 percent in the production of cotton and wheat accompanied with the average increase of Rs 10,000-Rs 23,000 in household income. Moreover, under the specialized agricultural training there will be an expected increase of 12 percent-17 percent in the earnings of the project beneficiaries as well. The trainings will enhance and cover the entire value chain across the agriculture sector.
Since, agriculture sector accounts for 25.3% of the country's total GDP with gradual declines experienced in the past as well, which is why this sector needs consistent consideration for such agricultural skills practices to be implemented in order to achieve the economies of scale with supplemented productions per acre. Majority of the country's population is either directly or indirectly dependent upon agriculture sector which is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings as well. Therefore, the training imparted under the contract will not only help the farmers with supplemented productions and revenues but will also be equally beneficial to boost the country's overall economy.
Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) is a section 42 not-for-profit company established in 2010 under the Companies Ordinance 1984 by the Government of the Punjab in partnership with the UK's Department for International Development (DFID, UK).The World Bank is also providing funds to the Punjab Government for the trainings to be funded by PSDF. Until now, PSDF has financed the training of more than 152,000 men and women across the Punjab under its various schemes for skills development and around 400,000 individuals will also be trained over the upcoming time span of 5 years.