Project assistance completion report : PFD/GMC [Punjab Food Department/Grain Management Cell] project activities, July - August, 1994

The project opened a Personal Ledger Account (PLA) into which Rs. 500,000 was placed to meet the cost of GMC activities; converted a godown (a warehouse) in the Provincial Reserve Center in Gulberg III, Lahore into an office building for the GMC and its training and research activities; and hired staff for the GMC. A sufficient number of PFD officials were trained to ensure the safe handling of the new bulk system technology. The PFD conducted several courses in the new GMC office building, including a master trainers training course, a basic computer training course for deputy directors and others, a seminar on bulk grain management, a demonstration to show the technique of fumigating a stack of wheat bags under a sealed polyethylene cover, a short course on paddy handling for officials of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation, an operational trainers training course, a short course on efficiency and disciplines rules, and a field staff training course. Some of the training was implemented in coordination with UAF. Research on grain protection was conducted jointly by the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) and GMC. The project used A.I.D.-provided bulk handling equipment to mechanize Hex-Bins, retrieve wheat, load bulk wheat onto trucks, and deliver wheat in bulk to flour mills. Since the equipment was mobile, it was moved from job to job to minimize idle time. GMC gradually increased the scope of the bulk operations beyond the existing bulk storage capacity by converting a HT godown for bulk storage at PR Center Islamabad; the conversion was cheaper than the construction of new facility would have been. The PFD also worked to help ensure the market acceptance of clean wheat at a price differential sufficient to pay cleaning costs. The following lessons were learned. (1) The project that introduces a new technology to the public or private sector can expect a very favorable response through practical demonstration of the technology; seeing is believing. (2) For testing, demonstrating, and/or implementing a new technology, equipment can be fully utilized if it is mobile enough to be transported from work site to work site. (3) The institutionalization of project activities, including new organizational systems, can best be managed through a separate cell established within the organization. (4) In implementing a new mechanized system, it is advisable to begin by concentrating on a limited number of activities in order to ensure effective supervision and maximum use of available equipment. Once experience and confidence has been gained, the scope of the activity can be gradually increased. (5) The training of officials of an organization to implement the activities of a new technical system is best done through master trainers; a few qualified and talented officials of the organization itself could be selected and trained for this purpose. (6) Financial and technical assistance provide a very useful support to sustain projects to introduce new technical systems into the public sector.