Agriculture processing, knowledge streams
The writer is a senior political economist
Away from the scramble for the illusionary budgetary resources, there are some creative, innovative and futuristic initiatives happening regardless. One is in agriculture, a sector that has given to the economy more than the perpetual infants of industry have taken away from it. The other is in the knowledge economy, demonstrating that while planners TALK about it, there are individuals who are DOING it.
On June 2, the Planning Commission hurriedly held a thrice-postponed policy dialogue on Agriculture Policy and Strategy for Green Revolution 2.0. Agricultural productivity has been falling at a time when land and water are becoming scarcer due to myopic policies. Everybody who is somebody in agriculture was there. While friend Iqrar Ahmed of Faisalabad Agriculture University presented a comprehensive to-do list, I referred to a total solution developed for rice in Hafizabad. Finding that agricultural credit is not enough as the farmer loses about 25% of output due to stress sale forced by loan repayment at harvest time, exploitation by arhtis and local charges, the NRSP Agricultural Processing Company (APC) worked on a complete value chain model. It was informed by the experience of Starbucks and Amul India. A start was made with paddy procurement, cleaning and drying and warehousing near the farms. Farmers were organised and offered credit. Later, certified seed, fertiliser, pesticides and machinery rental were provided with advisory support. By the harvest time, farmers have the option to sell paddy, store (eligible for e-warehouse receipt), process and store (eligible for e-warehousing), process and sell. It can retail or wholesale and finally branding and export to complete the value chain. The per kg value added in USD is 0.35 for farmer’s paddy, 0.65 for unbranded processed rice, 1.0 for branded rice and 10.0 for branded ready to cook rice.
Another friend, Sohail Naqvi, after heading HEC, LUMS and founding a university in Central Asia, has started an innovative company named Knowledge Streams (KS). Located in Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate in Lahore, it envisions bridging the crucial knowledge-employment gap in the IT sector at scale, with speed and quality exceeding international standards. With a double-bottom target of profitability and social impact, the expected outcomes are high quality and trained manpower for the IT industry to significantly expand its local and global presence. Qualified manpower is the key competitive advantage for an IT company. Around thirty thousand IT-related graduates are produced every year, with very few meeting industry standards. They are deficient in technical skills like programming, databases and software engineering principles. They also lack soft skills like business communications, personal leadership and teamwork. Add two- and four-year programme graduates in mathematics-based fields, and you see a large reservoir of ready talent. The course offers dedicated corporate training facility comprising hands-on training in workspaces having computer workstation clusters. Trainees are expected to follow norms of appearance, manners, interactions, as expected in a corporate facility. Instructors are experienced industry practitioners and the final capstone project will also be chosen in consultation with Industry. IT companies are seen to consider soft skills as a pivotal reason to hire an individual. Some of the most sought-after soft skills are problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking, time management, attitude and communications skills. Special emphasis is laid on bootcamp impact on women trainees’ self-assessment.
APC has matured and is now expanding. KS bootcamp model has begun well. There is the sprint to get ready for marathon. Pakistan has missed too much and for far too long. Incrementalism based on public hand-outs is not the future. Leapfrogging through value addition, productivity, knowledge and innovation is.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2023.
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