Asia Pacific countries for quality agriculture tools and machinery

Kathmandu, Dec 3: The 11th annual meeting of Asia Pacific countries focused on setting standards for quality and sustainable agriculture tools and machinery began in Kathmandu on Tuesday.     

The Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM), a network with 23 member countries, is hosting the meeting.     

Altogether 55 participants from 19 countries are attending the meeting to discuss legal framework for the regulation of quality agricultural machinery in the Asia Pacific region.     

Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day meeting, Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Govinda Prasad Sharma emphasized the importance of high-quality agricultural machinery for modernization of agriculture.     

Secretary Sharma shared that the Ministry was going to put legal provisions to ensure the import of the quality agricultural machinery into Nepal.     

Likewise, Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) Nepal Agriculture Engineering Research Centre Chief and ANTAM's President Shreemad Shrestha sad that the meeting will prepare universally accepted criteria and standards for agricultural tools applicable in 23 countries.     

According to him, the agricultural tools and equipments tested in one country would be recognized as a standard throughout the 23 ANTAM member countries.     

The meeting also brought to the fore the fact that the import and use of substandard agricultural machinery was contributing to the death of one agriculture machine operator every two days, according to the data provided by Nepal Police.     

Towards this, the participants of the meeting drew the attention of the government and calling for its positive intervention.(RSS)