CIRDAP in collaboration with South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Agriculture Centre organized a regional Expert Consultation Meeting on “ICT for Development of Rural Agriculture in South Asia –Policy Concerns” on 29th-31 October in Bogra, Bangladesh.
The main objective of this programme was to share the status of ICT applications in agriculture, review existing relevant policies, identify capacity gap and opportunities through consultation. The participants also proposed policies and strategies to make best of ICT to enhance productivity of agriculture.
During the technical sessions, the participants presented their respective countries ICT practices in terms of Rural Agricultural Development. They also engaged with interactive group activities to come up with relevant policy with relevant programme and strategies.
The proposed key policy interventions which were proposed by the participants include:
a. Availability of Sustainable and Reliable Agricultural Information;
b. Capacity enhancement of women in agriculture in ICT;
c. Mandated Committee for Agricultural content validation and program monitoring;
d. Work on present policies (ex. Ag extension policy, ICT policy) and come up with “ICT in agriculture policy”.
The meeting was attended by the following:
| Sl | Name | Designation | Organization | Country |
| 1. | Mr. Abdul Hasib Habib | IT Director | Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock (MAIL) | Afghanistan |
| 2. | Mr. Mohammad Zakir Hasnat | Information Officer (Plant protection) | Agriculture Information Service,Ministry of Agriculture | Bangladesh |
| 3. | Mr. Dawa Zangpo | ICT Officer | Ministry of Agriculture & Forests | Bhutan |
| 4. | Mr. Manoluck Bounsihalath | Director | National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute | Lao PDR |
| 5. | Dr. Raju Ghimire | Senior Agriculture Extension Officer | Agriculture Information & Training Centre | Nepal |
| 6. | Ms. Ambreen Ashfaq | Section Officer | Ministry of National Food Security & Research | Pakistan |
| 7. | Mr. S. Periyasamy | Director (Comm. and Information) | National Agriculture Information & Communication Centre | Sri Lanka |
