internship report Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project)

Internship Report

BY: AHMAD HIJAZI07-ARID-575MBA (AGRIBUSINESS MANAGEMENT)

Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project

MINISTRY OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCKGOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN

Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project, Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Internship Report


Master of Business Administration Program

Name: Ahmad Hijazi

Registration no: 07-arid-575

Specialization: Agribusiness

Telephone: 03339473157

Email: [email protected]

University Institute of Management Sciences

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi

Organization Name:


Telephone No: 051-9210146

Postal Address:

38 west, 4th floor Khalid Plaza Jinnah Avenue Blue Area Islamabad.

Supervisor Name: Amjad Iqbal

Designation: Project Manager (Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project)

Phone No: 03005905922, 0519210146

Start date of Internship: October -1- 2008

End Date of Internship: June- 30 -2009

Report date: August- 03 - 2009

Internship Report2

mailto:[email protected]


Evaluation

Ahmad Hijazi

(07-arid-575)

Internship Report


Internship Report submitted for the final evaluation in partial fulfillment of the equipments for the Degree of MBA (Agribusiness).

It is certified that, the internship report and the work contained in it conforms to all the standards set by the institute for the evaluation of any such work.

1. __________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

3. __________________________________________

4. __________________________________________

University Institute of Management Sciences

Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi

(2007-2009)

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Dedication I dedicate this project

to my parents and teachers who help me

in every way of life.

&

Also to Mr.Amjad Iqbal (Project Manager) who

help me a lot in enhancing my

capabilities and core competencies.

Internship Report| Dedication4


Acknowledgment All praises to ALLAH Almighty, the mighty and merciful and beneficent, who has blessed me with knowledge to accomplish the task of completing this report, give me the courage and allowed me to accomplish this task. This internship report has given me a chance to observe the practical work experience, this report has enhanced and sense of observation.

I’m very thankful to our respected teachers and Director UIMS who had assigned us this valuable opportunity to enhance our practical skills. Their inspiring guidance, remarkable suggestions, constant encouragement, keen interests. Constructive criticism and friendly discussion enable me to complete this report study efficiently. It is there kindness that we are at this level of knowledge. I am also very thankful to staff especially Fida Muhammad, Amjad Iqbal, Amna Nadeem of Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project, Islamabad, who has given me lot of support to complete my internship report. I say thank to all of them for motivating me. All their efforts are sincerely appreciated. Lets all work together to

build a better tomorrow for generations to come.

Internship Report| Acknowledgement5


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………….. (6)

Executive summary…………………………………………………………………... (7)

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………… (9)

1.1 Project Background…………………………………………….. (9)

2. Mission of the Project……………………………………………………………. (11)

3. Project Objectives………………………………………………………………... (12)

4. Project Brief……………………………………………………………………… (13)

4.1 Project Components……………………………………………………….. (13)

4.1.1 Agribusiness Finance Development…………………………………. (13)

4.1.2 Agribusiness Capacity Building…………………………………….. (14)

4.1.3 Agribusiness Policy and Enabling Environment Development…….. (14)

4.1.4 Agribusiness Support Service Provision……………………………. (14)

4.1.5 Project Implementation Support and Studies……………………….. (15)

4.2 Project benefits……………………………………………………………. (15)

5.

Internship Report| Table of contents6


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project is assisted by Asian development bank and is executed by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, state Bank and ANZDEC. An allocation of Rs.400 million exists for this project. The main objective of the project is to achieve self-reliance in agricultural commodities, ensure food security and improve productivity of crops and livestock. The main emphasis is on market oriented demand based production system which will lead to the increased production and productivity of crops and livestock sector. Consequently, income of the farmers will increase and rural poverty will decrease.

The main components of project comprise:

(i) Agribusiness policy and enabling environment development.

(ii) Agribusiness capacity building.

(iii) Agribusiness support services provision.

(iv) Agribusiness finance development.

(v) Project implementation support.

The agribusiness sector is in existence but could not grow and show its share in GNP. This is due to a large numbers of problems/constraints faced by this sector which kept it depressed. These occur throughout the product value chain from input supply to processing and exports, leading to low productivity and value added. The constraints must be addressed with a comprehensive and systemic approach throughout the value chain to remove production, market, and institutional failures and rigidities that impede the development of the sector, and promote demand driven development with maximum participation of the private sector, including farmers. World agricultural product markets are demanding increasingly higher product quality, and unless Pakistan's agribusiness

products conform to these standards, the agribusiness sector will not be able to enter, let alone compete, on world markets under a WTO regime, including imports. It is therefore imperative that the key constraints in the agribusiness sector leading to its poor performance identified during the project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA) be removed, including

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(i) Institutional constraints that include weak or nonexistent public-private partnerships, weak institutional capacity and poor coordination between government agencies, and an absence of demand-driven agricultural research and extension; (ii) market failures that include limited availability of business development services to small entrepreneurs to support business activities and to start new enterprises, limited access to finance

(ii) And limited capacity for farmer group formation for agribusiness or agro enterprise purposes to develop economies of scale, an effective lobby, or continuity of supply to ensure strong market penetration; and (iii) the lack of a guiding national policy and long-term strategy aimed at developing a dynamic and competitive agribusiness sector.

The aim of the Project is policy recommendations within the agribusiness sector concentrate, on the improvement of marketing and market intelligence, improved product quality and shelf life through sound post harvest practices, achievement of international compliance and, promoting the establishment of processing plants nationally to give greater value addition at source and improving the bulking up, collection and storage of raw materials. Special attention needs to be paid to the establishment of farmer groups for effective marketing and collective bargaining, and for them to increase production of quality raw material through improved production practices and the establishment of enterprise associations to produce quality brands, through grading, certification, quality control and labeling.

It has been advocated by the experts and policy makers that the increase of income, welfare and decrease in rural poverty is possible through diversification in agriculture sector which would be achieved through the present project. The diversification achieved through this project will lead to sustainable growth of agriculture sector and full exploitation of the potential of factors of production involved in agriculture sector. This is in line with the basic aim and objective of agriculture sector.

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

Agribusiness development project (assisted by ADB), Agriculture and Livestock Products Marketing and Grading department, Government of Pakistan. The project activities will be carried throughout Pakistan including special areas (FATA, FANA, and AJK). The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MINFAL) is the Executing Agency (EA) for the Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project (ADDP) funded through an Asian Development Bank loan (ADB loan no. 2171-PAK). The Project aims to have an impact on economic growth in Pakistan through the development of a more competitive and sustainable agribusiness sub-sector. All the relevant stakeholders, i.e. farmers, traders, small and medium entrepreneurs, researchers, extension workers, policy makers and experts of agriculture will be involved. The Project span over a period of five years (starting mid 2005 and to be completed by mid 2010). The loan agreement was signed between the GoP and ADB on 14th June 2005 and got effective on 9th January 2006. The overall cost of the Project was estimated at Rs. 4.066 billion including US$ 31 million of loan from ADB. The administrative headquarter will be at Islamabad.

Realizing the potential of agribusiness sector, the government of Pakistan with the help of Asian Development bank has initiated Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project which will be implanted over next five years.(from 2005). The Project objectives are to support economic growth and employment generation through agribusiness development and to develop a more competitive and sustainable agribusiness sub-sector. The focus of project interventions is on increased productivity, product quality, and value addition by removing constraints facing agribusinesses that occur throughout the product value chain from production and input supply to processing and exports. The Project is addressing the constraint in the sub-sector using a comprehensive and systemic approach throughout the value chain to remove market and institutional failures and rigidities that impede the development of the agribusiness sector, and promote demand-driven development with maximum participation of the private sector. The main objective of the project is to achieve self-reliance in agricultural commodities, ensure food security and improve productivity of crops and livestock.

The main emphasis is on market oriented demand based production system which will lead to the increased production and productivity of crops and livestock sector. Consequently, income of the farmers will increase and rural poverty will decrease.

Internship Report| Introduction9


The project components are directed, in particular, to provide the policy framework and enabling environment for agribusiness, capacity building for the necessary agribusiness support and the provision of business support services to agro-enterprises to enhance entrepreneurial skills throughout the value chain (from the field to the consumer) and to provide the opportunity for demand driven research and extension. The aim in this regard is to create a flexible service delivery mechanism that is responsive to private sector demand within the provinces. The components will not be directly linked to specific provincial interventions or pre-set financing limits for each province. It will be on the basis of “first come first served” with requests for support being bottom up and demand driven.

The primary focus will be on the horticulture and the hortibusiness, livestock and dairy development sub sectors which is in line with the country’s development strategy of diversification into intensive high value crop production that will lend itself to value addition and labor intensive cultivation for the creation of rural employment and increased rural incomes. Emphasis has been placed on germplasm and raw material supply by improving production and yields and enhancing product quality and uniformity. Without a quality raw material base the country’s produce will be at a severe disadvantage when the national market has opened up fully.

In the short run, qualitative improvements with reasonable monetary incentives are envisaged. In the medium term, it is expected that an environment for encouraging various stakeholders to invest in the sub sector and adopt good practices will be in place. It is also expected that farmers will be able to realize reasonable increases in income by minimizing post harvest losses. Without these improvements, it will not be possible to realize comparative and competitive advantages. These advantages are due to nearness to markets with increasing demand for quality products, ability to supply during the off-season, and the sub sector being labor intensive. Given the overall nature of project interventions that are mainly geared towards realizing quality improvement and achieving higher value added, justification has relied on the assessment of non-quantifiable benefits. In the long run, seven years after project completion, it is envisaged that traditional agribusiness practices will have matured to a more commercialized approach.

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2. THE MISSION OF THE PROJECT

The development of modern and efficient corporate sector and capital market, based on sound Agriculture business that provide impetus for high economic growth and faster social harmony in the country and to develop an efficient system in field of agriculture.

The main objective of agriculture sector is to achieve self-reliance in agricultural commodities, ensure food security and improve productivity of crops and livestock. The main emphasis is on market oriented demand based production system which will lead to the increased production and productivity of crops and livestock sector. Consequently, income of the farmers will increase and rural poverty will decrease.

To provide the policy framework and enabling environment for agribusiness, capacity building for the necessary agribusiness support and the provision of business support services to agro-enterprises to enhance entrepreneurial skills throughout the value chain (from the field to the consumer).

To develop the marketing chain of agriculture produce because the existing marketing chain results in considerable post harvest losses and shelf life reduction. Non availability of suitable crop storage in production areas limits farmer marketing options and discourages producers from linking direct market demand with production and supply seasons.

In the short run, qualitative improvements with reasonable monetary incentives are envisaged. In the medium term, it is expected that an environment for encouraging various stakeholders to invest in the sub sector and adopt good practices will be in place. It is also expected that farmers will be able to realize reasonable increases in income by minimizing post harvest losses.

To provide a policy framework and an enabling environment through strengthening institutions, their enhanced coordination and capability.

To extend financial, capacity building technical support and services to growers, farmers groups and entrepreneurs with in agribusiness sector. Enhanced

profitability by adopting best management practices in business and agro-enterprise by management training.

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3. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Economic growth through agribusiness development.

Increasing the production of agriculture sector as a whole.

Exploiting potentials of non-conventional sub-sectors of agriculture sector such as horticulture, hortibusiness, vegetable production and floriculture.

Enhancing income of the farmers.

Improving production of livestock sector.

Arresting rural-urban migration by creating employment opportunities in agribusiness sector.

The focus of project interventions is on increased productivity, product quality, and value addition by removing constraints facing agribusinesses that occur throughout the product value chain from production and input supply to processing and exports.

Poverty alleviation.

Skill enhancement in horticulture, hortibusiness, livestock, dairy, floriculture and in vegetable production.

Formulation and re-orientation of national policies with regards to above sub-sectors of rural economy.

Creation of an enabling environment

Provision of appropriate support services for agribusiness.

The re-structuring and strengthening of institutions to facilitate development of agribusiness,

Capacity building and enhanced coordination.

Establishing an Agribusiness Support Fund for the business development services (BDS) provision.

Providing cost sharing grants for BDS and enhancing competitiveness.

Policy framework and an enabling environment through strengthening institutions, their enhanced coordination and capability.

Establishing a project implementation and evaluation capacity.

Emphasis on raw material supply by improving production and yields and enhancing product quality and uniformity.

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4. PROJECT BRIEF

Agribusiness development project (assisted by ADB), Agriculture and Livestock Products Marketing and Grading department, Government of Pakistan. The project activities will be carried throughout Pakistan including special areas (FATA, FANA, and AJK). The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MINFAL) is the Executing Agency (EA) for the Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project (ADDP) funded through an Asian Development Bank loan (ADB loan no. 2171-PAK). The Project aims to have an impact on economic growth in Pakistan through the development of a more competitive and sustainable agribusiness sub-sector. All the relevant stakeholders, i.e. farmers, traders, small and medium entrepreneurs, researchers, extension workers, policy makers and experts of agriculture will be involved. The Project span over a period of five years (starting mid 2005 and to be completed by mid 2010). The loan agreement was signed between the GoP and ADB on 14th June 2005 and got effective on 9th January 2006. The overall cost of the Project was estimated at Rs. 4.066 billion including US$ 31 million of loan from ADB. The administrative headquarter will be at Islamabad.

The Project span over a period of five years (starting mid 2005 and to be completed by 2010). The loan agreement was signed between the GoP and ADB on 14th June 2005 and got effective on 9th January 2006. The overall cost of the Project was estimated at Rs. 4.066 billion including US$ 31 million of loan from ADB.

4.1 Project Components

The Project has five main components including: (i) Agribusiness support services provision; (ii) Agribusiness finance development; (iii) Agribusiness capacity building; (iv) Agribusiness policy and enabling environment development; and, (v) Project management support. The Project is being implemented in the whole of the country including four provinces: Sind, Punjab, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan as well as three special areas; Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

4.1.1 Agribusiness Finance Development

The Project supports the development of financial services, particularly credit, to agribusiness enterprises that do not have ready access to such services and lack collateral. The Project supports selected PFIs to develop their understanding of the potential agribusiness finance market, with a view to enhance their capacity to undertake agribusiness lending. The component is implemented in collaboration with the State Bank

of Pakistan (SBP) through two consultancy contracts; (i) awareness building and monitoring package and, (ii) capacity building package.

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4.1.2 .Agribusiness Capacity Building

Capacity building for agribusiness has an overarching focus on horticulture and horti-business, but also the livestock and dairy sub-sector. The component seeks to increase the private sector participation in the provision of services in order to facilitate agribusiness development and enhance the ability of the country’s private sector to ensure international compliance. The Project work towards the rationalization, restructuring, and coordination within the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Livestock (MINFAL) and among the attached departments/wings with regard to the implementation of WTO regulations and international quality standards. There are several sub-components within this component which include (i). Strengthening Private Market Information Service, (ii). Strengthening Export Quality Certification Capacity, (iii). Strengthening Seed and Planting Material Certification (iv). Institutional Capacity Building for training of Beneficiaries, (iv). Farmer Training through ToT and FFS, (v). Strengthening the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board, and; (vi) establishment of the Livestock and Dairy Development Board.

4.1.3 Agribusiness Policy and Enabling Environment Development

The component is working towards the development of an appropriate policy and enabling environment for private-sector-led agribusiness development. In tangible terms the Project will assist in the development of national and provincial policies to redefine roles and responsibilities in the agribusiness and horticulture sectors; strengthen the regulatory framework, in particular for alignment with international standards; and create effective public-private partnerships to promote sector development.

4.1.4 Agribusiness Support Service Provision

The Project is facilitating increased access to Business Development Services (BDS) of agribusiness enterprises by financing eligible services for capacity building, including technical, managerial, financial, and marketing skills. The Project has established the Agribusiness Support Fund (ASF); a non-for-profit company, to provide funds to eligible agribusiness enterprises, farmers, research and extension service providers, and BDS providers. Eligible services for ASF finance include (i) capacity-building and related assistance to existing agribusiness enterprises and for enterprise start-ups, but excluding the financing of capital equipment; (ii) support to individual farmers and farmers' groups for the formation of legally registered agribusiness enterprises that can then obtain ASF support for other eligible services; (iii) demand-driven research by private or public

sector research institutions leading to increased and better quality production and improved production processes, or to meet an identified market demand

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(iv)Development of private sector extension services to be provided to small-scale farmers proposing to supply raw materials to agribusiness enterprises; and (v) support for private sector BDS providers to enhance the availability and quality of services provided to agribusiness enterprises.

4.1.5 Project Implementation Support and Studies

The Project Management Unit has been set up in Islamabad which is responsible for project management and implementation of various project activities, coordinating consultant inputs, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to implement project activities effectively, seven project implementation offices have also been established in four provinces and Federally Administrated Northern Areas, Federally Administrated Tribal Areas and Azad Jamu and Kashmir. Under the component the Project also has to undertake a Comparative and Competitive Advantage Study, Livestock Development Study, develop Environmental Monitoring Mechanisms for agribusiness enterprise and develop a Project Performance Monitoring System.

4.2 Project benefits

The farmers and traders, businessmen, NGOs, as well as the researchers dealing with agriculture will be prospect beneficiaries of this project. They will be provided awareness, necessary information and technical know-how on WTO related issues, policies and government strategies to deal with the challenges imposed on them by WTO. In this regards, their rights and duties would be informed to them. Their views will be sought on various issues of WTO and thus strategies and polices would be streamlined to tackle the challenges of WTO and gain maximum possible benefits. This approach will make the project successful

Project Component/Activity Beneficiaries

Agribusiness Support Fund

Agribusiness enterprises 705Farmers’ groups 1,250Farmers in groups 12,500BDS providers 100Research and extension providers 30

Agribusiness Finance Development

Participating financial institutions’ capacity strengthened 4Agribusiness enterprises financed 10,000Employees in agribusiness enterprises (direct) – person years

100,000Employees in supporting activities (indirect) – person years 700,000



Agribusiness Capacity Building

Entrepreneurs trained ManagerialTechnical

2,0163,022

Farmers trained – on-farm technical training 25,000Agribusiness awareness trainees (Government)

LocalOverseas

3,20020

Provincial and Special Areas Government incremental staff To be determinedTraining institute (GCCs, VTIs, etc) trainers trained 816Extension officers trained 500Persons trained in flower presentation 140

Note: Beneficiaries under the Agribusiness Support Fund component will also benefit from financing under the Agribusiness Finance Capacity Building component. As such, there is some double counting in the above figures.



5 WORK DESCRIPTION

In Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project I really enjoyed working with the staff of the project management unit (PMU) and having a wish to be employee of the project. It was almost impossible to work in all departments with in that limited time. So it was suggested for me to work in the consultancy component of the project. It was a good decision taken for me as the consultancy provides technical assistance to the project having international and domestic highly qualified consultants working over in the project. Responsible for project management and implementation of various project activities, coordinating consultant inputs, reporting, and monitoring and evaluation.

It was an opportunity for me to work with the international consultants as well as domestic which leads to enhance my practical experience in the organization and exposure to the environment of highly professional’s persons.

As I have early mentioned that I have worked in the consultancy component of the project, the detail job description is as follow.

5.1 Consultancy component job description

The Consultancy named as ANZDEC (an International Australian consultancy) provide technical assistance to the five components of the Project and to assist the Executing Agency in project implementation.

Coordinate training programs and materials for training and development of better post harvest practices.

Coordinate training programs and manuals for sampling, and inspection of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Help the project in evaluating the market for the information service and investigate about the requirements of customers including i) the types of information needed ii) frequency of information dissemination iii) channels for dissemination and vi) the appropriate price for the service

Assist the private the project in developing data collection proformas and reporting formats.

Work closely with the Department for Agriculture Livestock Products Marketing and Grading (DALPMG) to prepare training and dissemination programmes

regarding quality standards for fresh fruits and vegetables in line with internationally accepted quality standards.

The consultants work closely in conjunction with the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSCRD) to develop standards for certification of fruit tree nursery production (particularly for tropical and sub-tropical fruits).

Internship Report| Work description17


Review the current data collection process and systems that will be useful to generate relevant data, for comparison with baseline/program data, on the issues and actions that are being addressed under the project.

Suggest specific steps, including measures to collect data or undertake studies, to help to put in place a reliable and acceptable approach to monitor the implementation of the project activities including a formulation of process indicators and delivery of the service providers.

As part of the Project Performance Management System (PPMS) the consultant run workshops in the provinces primarily to review the project framework and obtain feedback in the field regarding project output targets and make recommendations accordingly, if adjustments and revisions are required.

Review all consultant TA outputs and ensure that information for carrying an effective monitoring system for the implementation of the program is effectively collected or collated for the consultant outputs.

Review all consultant TA outputs and ensure that information for carrying an effective monitoring system for the implementation of the program is effectively collected or collated for the consultant outputs.

Determine the scope of work for the development of four distinct Provincial Horticultural policies, with particular emphasis on the (i) policy definition and vision, (ii) institutional involvement and capabilities, (iii) aims and objectives that will include subsectors and products for growth and prioritization (iv) the focus of Government support through policy reforms (v) an action plan for implementing the strategy with key indicators or targets specified with time horizons and (vi) the prioritization of crops and products for both the national and international markets.

Assist the PMU in recommending the compliment and profile of the provincial horticultural policy task forces and preparing the task force members terms of reference.

Manage the task forces in achieving their objective of preparing the draft policy and present the policies to the implementing and executing agencies and the provincial governments.

Liaise with the International Agribusiness Policy Consultant in order to harmonize the horticultural policies with the agribusiness policy regarding the overall strategy objectives.

In consultation with the PHDEB, determine which international markets and products to study which provide evidence of Pakistan’s comparative and competitive advantage or disadvantage

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5.2 My responsibilitiesUnder the supervision of management officer maintaining and managing of consultants and TA office input and output work plans.

Day to day management of the TA office, procurement of office supplies and other office consumables.

Prepare complete work plan and personal schedule of the Technical Assistance Component and strongly monitor deadlines.

Monitor all financial expenditures including accounts payable, petty cash, wire transfers, forecast budgeting and preaudit all accounts on monthly basis.

Management of all resources at the TA office; Manage and maintain accounts, collect, coordinate and manage all vouchers and expenditure receipt.

Procurement, maintenance and repair of TA office equipment.

Development and management of Inventory of TA office assets.

Administration and review of consultants documents including work-plans, timesheets and maintenance of files.

In the direction of management officer arranging of domestic & International travels arrangements including hotel bookings and transportation for the International and local Consultants, other staff members and then follow-ups with travel agent/Hotel.

Helps the administrative officer in collecting and submitting monthly timesheet and progress reports of domestic consultants to office manger.

Keep record of all reports and maintain library (hard and digital).

Make logistical arrangements for office, meeting and workshop.

Submission and follow up on invoices to the Clients.

Help the administrative officer in making Record daily activities on monthly input summary form and submission to ANZDEC on monthly basis.

Any other tasks related to the administration and management of TA office.

Also work as a Enumerator in the Baseline Survey and Value Chain Assessment conducted by Agribusiness Development and Diversification project.

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As enumerator responsible for organizing the data collected and was also involved in the initial screening of data and feeding it to the computer data base.

My big success was to participate in different Training programmes organised for the enhancing of five components of Project.

Trainings like institutional development of Agribusiness sector (capacity building component) and WTO related trainings for the sanitary and phytosanitary.I have presented different presentations to the team leader and value chain analyst and project manager on Agriculture credit Scheme of ZTBL.

Agro based industries in Pakistan.

Constraints/Challenges to Horticulture.

One best opportunity for me was that I have in close interaction with the international consultants which enhance my internship training and exposure to international professionals.

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6 SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT

6.1 Strengths

An agriculture project and Pakistan’s economy is also agro based.

Strong financial position

Good image as it is ADB funded project and also under the supervision of MINFAL.

International linkages i.e. USAID, ADB.

Linkages from gross root level with different clients and Govt organizations.

Operational area is spread to all four provinces, AJK, FANA and FATA.

Well motivated workforce.

Handsome salaries

Good blend of experienced, dedicated, trained and young work force.

6.2 Weaknesses

Head of the project has no agriculture background.

Project resources are not being adequately used.

Employee’s resources are habitual to come late.

Unable to implement the formulated policies e.g. Horticulture policy.

Politics and leg pulling.

High power distance.

Top executives turn over.

No relation with agro based industry (which will help in the promotion and investment opportunities in agribusiness sector.

As universities have bulk of experienced people regarding the concerned field, so it must be enhanced.

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6.3 Opportunities

Pakistan is an agriculture country, so a great scope to extend the project towards other allied fields of agriculture.

Investment opportunities.

Employment opportunities.

Capacity building of the farmers.

6.4 Threats

Totally dependent on foreign aid.

Instability of government.

Subsistence farming.

Lack of local investment.

Awareness on the side of investor about agribusiness.

Non existing corporate agriculture.

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7 CONCLUSIONS

I have got practical experience in my internship and this created a springboard from college life to career life.

Provided a real life experience with a short term commitment.

Strengthens background in field of choice.

Internship created the potential for future work with the company.

Provided potential work related references and linkages.

Create an opportunity for networking.

My professional work experience was developed as:

1. How to work in a dynamic environment.

2. How to prepare professional and project report.

3. The all administration of the organization.

Linkages and dealing with the international and local highly professional people.

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farms machinery, distribution, and marketing. By doing internship in this project my personal findings are:

Awareness creation: People do not know what agribusiness is and how it is different from conventional agriculture. so there is a great need to create awareness by using media, meetings with farmers, and seminars.

Internship Report| Conclusions23


To establish a strong, public, private (industry) relationship. I found that project has no strong relationship with agro based industry. The organization must establish good relationship with the people outside of the organization; it will help in the promotion and investment in agribusiness sector.

Links with Universities: I hardly saw that project has any link with universities. As universities have bulk of experienced people regarding the concerned field, so it must be enhanced.

Monitoring and evaluation of the project is not proper. There is lack of control mechanism. It must be improved by implementing appropriate control mechanism.

Project head has no agriculture background, so it is difficult to understand accurately the problems and suggesting solution to certain problems. Project head must be an agribusiness specialist.

Internship Report| Conclusions24

Documents

internship report Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project)