Provision of modern agricultural extension services to farmers is need of time and, under Privatisation of Agricultural Extension Services to Enhance Service Delivery, a project through use of ICT-based services at a cost of Rs10billion has been implemented, said Agriculture Department spokesman.
The spokesman said this project is for the whole of Punjab but initially in the first phase, it is being launched from Sargodha, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Gujranwala divisions.
It has been decided to deploy field force at the level of union council through private service providers to provide modern agricultural extension service to farmers to provide them technical guidance.
Under this programme, two field assistants will be posted in each union council and one agriculture officer will be posted in every 3 union councils.
The spokesman said the challenges of the productivity enhancement, diversification, intensification, value addition without much harming soil, water and environment are mounting and existing field services engaged in multifarious jobs is feeling huge difficulties to manage.
