As part of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) development programs for the agriculture sector, officials of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) had a benchmarking visit to the AMTEC facilities and operations last June 11, 2024. 

The event aimed to give the Pakistani guests an overview of the current practice of AMTEC and the Philippines, as a whole, in agricultural mechanization. They were led by Ms. Noriko Sato, ADB’s Senior Natural Resources Specialist and Project Officer, and Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman of PARC.

Dr. Arthur L. Fajardo, AMTEC Director, personally welcomed the guests which was followed by an introductory presentation facilitated by Engr. Marie Jehosa B. Reyes.  The session was also an opportunity for the guests to discuss matters that would help them establish and improve their policies and national strategies on agricultural mechanization. 

A tour around the Agricultural Machinery Testing and Studies Laboratory (AMATS), formerly the Mechanical Testing Laboratory, was also facilitated by AMTEC test engineers. They were given a brief introduction to some of the technologies that the Center utilizes in its operations.

The event will hopefully guide the guests from Pakistan on the vitality of the agricultural mechanization sector, especially on the relevance of testing and evaluation of machines before their release in the market and utilization by farmers. Apart from AMTEC, they also visited other related units in the university. 

AMTEC, as an active member of ANTAM, is also committed to supporting other countries in the region by sharing its best practices and technical expertise in the field of agricultural and fisheries machinery testing.