Lahore-Engro Corporation has signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) to develop a skilling program for the role of Crop Advisors, under Parwaaz’ s Agriculture and Foods skills incubator.
The two partners will work together to create a skilling program that comprises of curriculum developed with subject matter experts to teach modern farming practices to learners and integrating them with digital systems. The upskilled Crop Advisors will then be able to better guide farmers on the best farming processes and use of marketing techniques using digital technology to boost their crop yield and incomes.
Engro Corporation will mobilize learners for the program, develop the program’s curriculum by engaging subject matter experts and identify the training needs of farmers, potential employers, and crop advisors. It will also support program graduates in securing employment and connect them to stakeholders in the market.
Parwaaz will finance the execution of the program, support Engro in mobilizing the learners and facilitate in creating job opportunities and market linkages for successful graduates of the program.
Speaking on the event signing ceremony, Ghias Khan – President & CEO of Engro Corporation and co-chair of Agriculture & Foods for Parwaaz, said that, “For over 50 years, Engro has played a pivotal role in ensuring the nation’s food security and changing its agricultural landscape with innovative products and solutions. However, with a burgeoning population and the impact of climate change, our agriculture sector needs to achieve higher productivity to ensure food security for Pakistan. In this context, this new public-private partnership between Engro and PSDF is very timely to enable our hardworking farmers to be future ready and equip them with modern farming techniques and digital solutions. By upskilling the farmers, we can boost their incomes and crop output in line with the government’s agricultural transformation vision.”
According to Jawad Khan, CEO of PSDF, “The agriculture sector of Pakistan is one of the most critical areas where Parwaaz can make a profound impact and close the skills gap that impedes our economic progress. In Engro, we have found a partner that has a longstanding reputation of pioneering farmer uplift and digitization initiatives in the industry. Together, we look forward to enabling our farmers to adopt best global practices and improve their livelihoods.”
Last year, Pakistan was featured in the ‘Future of Jobs’ Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the first time. Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) serves as the secretariat for Parwaaz, which is the National Accelerator on closing the skills gap in Pakistan, setup in collaboration with World Economic Forum. With the guidance of the most influential public and private sector leaders, it is developing reskilling, upskilling and newskilling plans for the current and future workforce of Pakistan.
