ISLAMABAD, July 19: The Engineering Development Board (EDB) has constituted an eight-member working group to formulate a strategy for the export of agricultural machinery and implements.

This was decided in the fifth meeting of the committee headed by EDB Chairman Abdul Hafeez Chaudhry on Thursday.

The working group comprises of representatives from public and private sector organisations.

The EDB will also provide international exposure to the manufacturers by arranging their participation in international fairs and exhibitions. The meeting also identified international exhibitions on farm machinery and implements.

The meeting was informed that the sector had potential to enter the global market, especially in African countries provided the manufacturers adopted international quality standards for their products.

It was decided to launch an educational campaign for the farmers to use standard products instead of cheap products. Mr Hafeez assured the meeting that the government would encourage manufacturers of standard products by providing R&D support allocated for the auto sector. He added that the scheme was ready for submission to the cabinet for approval.

The exporters briefed the meeting about the difficulties faced by them in meeting the demands of foreign buyers and steps taken by them to overcome the difficulties. They said that they had already developed a vendor industry and introduced seven and eight items in global markets.

It was decided that Technology Upgradation and Skill Development Company (Tusdec) would prepare drawings of identified agricultural machinery and implements so that a culture towards standardisation of farm implements could be developed.

The representative of Tusdec assured the meeting that with the start of CAD/CAM centres in Gujranwala, Sialkot and Lahore the organisation was well-equipped to initiate work in this regard.