PESHAWAR, July 18: Speakers at a training workshop on Monday urged participants to make use of their training to enhance agricultural production and make the country self-sufficient in food. “We must adopt new methods and techniques of farming and livestock to increase agricultural productivity and at the same time help farmers live better lives,” said Shah Rukh Arbab, Secretary Food, Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperative Department, NWFP, while addressing the concluding session of the course at the NWFP Agricultural University.

The workshop was organized by the Community Based Sustainable Resource Management Project (CBRM) in collaboration with the Livestock and Dairy Development Department, NWFP, Veterinary Research Institute and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya.

Two master trainers from Kenya and three resource-persons conducted the course, according to a handout.

Said Khan Khalil, the vice-chancellor of the university said that livestock, being a major part of agriculture, needed to be run on modern lines so that its output could be increased.

According to him, it was the duty of the trainees to spread their knowledge among the farming community in their local areas to help them in raising the level of their productivity and income.

Mr Khalil called for holding such workshops for farmers and trainers on a regular basis to upgrade their knowledge and techniques in the area of agriculture and livestock.

He said the course was the first of its kind and more would be held in other parts of the country as well. The VC assured full cooperation of the varsity in holding such training sessions.

Ms Esther Haldimann, representative of Inter Cooperation Swiss Project, in her speech shed light on the significance of the course and advised the participants to make full use of their training in the field and listen to farmers with patience and share their knowledge with them.

Mujeebur Rehman of the CBRM said the workshop was the first of its kind in livestock history after the success of a similar course in horticulture held with the cooperation of the Swiss Project for Horticulture Promotion.