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Thursday March 28, 2024

Pakistan’s first national finale of Future Agro Challenge held at NARC

IslamabadThe digital media partners e-maginationz organised the national finale of Pakistan’s First ‘Future Agro Challenge’ that was held here at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council. Charge d’Affairs Embassy of Greece Mr. George Fostiropoulos was the guest of honour on the occasion. Future Agro Challenge (FAC) is the world championship for

By Afshan S. Khan
August 30, 2015
Islamabad
The digital media partners e-maginationz organised the national finale of Pakistan’s First ‘Future Agro Challenge’ that was held here at the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council. Charge d’Affairs Embassy of Greece Mr. George Fostiropoulos was the guest of honour on the occasion.
Future Agro Challenge (FAC) is the world championship for entrepreneurs who are offering change in everyday life through farm, food and lifestyle. This is Pakistan’s first ever business plan competition focused on Agribusiness. Future Agro Challenge (FAC) is a field of interaction for agro innovators and investors that addresses the future of healthy food from the farmer to the consumer, and furthers the agricultural revolution that is underway.
President Global Entrepreneur Network Kashif Khan while speaking on the occasion said that as there is not one simple solution to any of the complex global challenges of feeding the estimated growing population of 9 billion people by 2050. FAC takes root in each joining nation, the knowledge base is enriched with a transfer of ideas and solutions. Each nation and region brings a new perspective, having overcome different obstacles and offering different facets of innovation. The winners of today National finale would have a chance to represent their country in Greece at the global championship at Greece.
FAC supports agro visionaries, start-ups, farmers, manufacturers, and distributors from countries across several continents. The most promising ideas and ventures would be selected to compete in the Global Championships in Greece. “This initiative was taken by Greece and now more than 30 countries are participating in this. Only this year Pakistan has become the part of this challenge. A lot of research and activity is being done in Agriculture in Pakistan. The launch of FAC Pakistan was held by USEFP in Islamabad on 29 May 2015. Our teams went to different universities and made the students aware of the competition and today we are going to select the best business plan idea from them for the global competition. We have participation from all over the country,” he said, while thanking the Rural Community Development Society (RCDS) for their support for the winning participant.
Head of Strategic Planning e-maginationz Ahmed Waqar Mohsin said that we totally believe on the saying of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar that ‘Nothing is the beginning of everything,’ “We have nothing at the beginning but with our team’s hard work we are able to hold such a successful event. In addition to this, our website would soon be turning into a portal. The portal would include all the partners from all the provinces. There would be competitions, trainings, workshops etc. for better strategic partnership.
Global Agriculture Sector Lead, Acumen Mr. Noorullah said that we invest in companies, leaders and ideas to change the way the world tackles poverty. “We invest in six core areas, like agriculture, energy, housing, water, housing and education. ICT can give farmers an access to markets. It’s a cost effective way to deliver in rural areas. The regular phones are being replaced by smart phones in a short period of time. We believe that access to information and the right kind of information at the right time is missing in Pakistan. Farmers lose their money because of lack of access to markets. There is no purchasing mechanism, they have to depend on local markets,” he said.
CEO PATCO Dr. Tariq Hasan said NARC is the hub of agricultural activities. PARC has established research centres across Pakistan. The aim is to collaborate with national and international companies.
Later, the participants shared their business plans with the jury members and were awarded souvenirs from e-maginationz. Guest of honour and jury members were also awarded with souvenirs. The business plan that topped the national competition was from Omar Adnan Qureshi who had proposed for a small device collar called ‘Cowlar’ for the cows and cattle that could detect the temperature of cows and thus alerting the owner of the cow to take necessary measures. National runner up was AgriSens was a mobile app for farmers.