The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) organized a validation workshop on “Agriculture Innovation System (AIS): Assessment Findings and Recommendations” in Islamabad.

 Assessment of AIS is part of global three-year EU-funded project aimed at strengthening the functional capacities of National Agriculture Innovation Systems with focus on climate-relevant, productivity, and sustainable transformation of agriculture and food systems.

The validation workshop objective was to gather feedback on the detailed assessment results and discuss way forward and finalize road map for the next phase i.e. capacity building.

Detailed assessment of AIS was conducted during September-October 2022 by three-member assessment team comprising of a national consultant and members from Agriculture Extension & Adaptive Research Department, Punjab. Seven innovation case studies of different public sector organizations from federal and provinces were studied in four analytical dimensions i.e., functional, structural, capacity and enabling environment.

All the participants acknowledged the results of assessment and agreed with the recommendations for next phase of capacity building. They also emphasized on the need to prepare action plan for each innovation case study. Project Advisory Committee member recommended to include service and product innovation case studies in specific interventions and also include governance departments as well in training component of capacity building.

Participants also emphasized on the importance of strengthening the agriculture innovation system with the involvement of private stakeholder as it would reap long lasting benefits. Mr. Selvaraju Ramasamy Head, FAO’s Research and Extension Unit (OINR), joined the event virtually and apprised stakeholder on Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) and the Global TAP AIS Project.

The event was attended by 25 participants in person and through virtual participation. They included; key officials from Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), National Agriculture Research Center (NARC), Provincial Extension and Research departments and FAO Office of Innovation (OIN).