Shaikh Shakil Ahmed
Shaikh Shakil Ahmed
Shaikh Shakil Ahmed served Agriculture Department for around 35 years. He retired from the post of Additional Secretary (Technical), worked for almost 2.5 years i-e from February 2018 till August 2020, where he worked in the capacity of Technical Advisor on agriculture to the Secretary and Minister for Agriculture Supply & Prices Department, Government of Sindh.
Being Additional secretary of the Agriculture Department of Sindh he was assigned to coordinate with different foreign donor agencies and organizations. Also assigned to be a focal person for many of the projects with agencies including FAO, GCF, USAID, UNDP, ITC, ACIAR (university of Queensland and Western University), CPEC, ACT collaborated with DFID, Asian Development Bank, World Bank etc. where in he has been working very closely with these forums and organizations and deliver his expertise to encourage these agencies to initiate, execute and implement agricultural development and transformation projects, which includes projects on; IMP for commodities warehousing management, Transforming the Indus Basin with Climate Smart Water Management System, PAD project with Winrock Institute in collaboration with USAID, Pakistan Climate Technical Assistant Program, Area Yield Crop Insurance for Farmers, GRASP Project, Project for Improving Farm Income of Small Farmers, Improving Pulse Production in Sindh, Credit System for Small Farmers, Project for Competitive Research & Development in Agriculture, Climate Resilient Value Chain Analysis Program – ACT, PATTA project, Strengthening Value Chain for Community Livelihoods, Poverty Reduction Program, PoP’s Reduction & Elimination Program, Establishment of Agro-based Food Processing Industry with Modern Technologies including CA stores, Cool Chain Management, Establishment of Food Corridor with UAE Government and etc.
During his tenure as Additional Secretary Technical he served the government of Sindh to collaborate with the World Bank projects i.e., SAGAP, SIAPEP and the consultation phase of SWAT. For these projects, his technical assistance and input were to align them according to the agriculture policy needs and to synergize the entire proceedings and objectives for conservation, sustainability, resilience, and revival of agriculture in Sindh. It is important to mention that the duty assigned was by virtue of his position with the government of Sindh and not by the World Bank employment.
He also worked as a focal person on projects at the national level especially the Prime Minister’s Emergency Program for productivity enhancement of major crops (wheat, rice & sugarcane) and oilseeds, program for conserve and improving availability of irrigation water, development of Value Chain under EHSAAS program. He also shared his expertise in encouraging agricultural activities under CPEC for the development of the agriculture sector. He also worked as a member Planning & Development Board as a representative from the Agriculture Department on various assignments and in the formulation of projects for the National Annual Development Program.
Here he also interacted with policymakers to reform the regulatory framework to develop and enhance agriculture activities. His links with policy organizations always remained profound. As a member of the agriculture department, he played an advisory role with World Bank, Asian Development Bank, FAO, and other policymakers during the last 3 years to look at various policy issues related to agricultural production, sustainability, and diversification.
He wrote research papers for different forums at the national and international level and always encourage foreign participation as head of the delegation to represent his country and to share his experience. Some of his research papers include Development of Marine Fisheries Sector and Foreign Investment Opportunities, Confinement of Conventional and Traditional Farming Methods for Transformation of Agriculture Sector, Foreign Investment Opportunities in Agriculture and Food Processing Industry, Water Governance and Pricing Mechanism, Modern Produce Market, Development and Promotion of Tourism and Agro-Tourism in Sindh, Economic Growth and Development in Tharparkar etc.
Before this, he worked as a Director, Agricultural Engineering and Deputy Director, Planning & Monitoring Cell, Agriculture Department, Government of Sindh. He worked as Project Director for Benazir Income support program where he was assigned for the development of youth skills and capacity building of their needs to cater the water and soil conservation and the environmental issues, wherein they were certified to use the tractor driven machines and equipment such as laser land levelers, high-efficiency drip irrigation system, on-farm drainage water management system and proper utilization of available underground aquifers and etc related to water and soil conversation and to apply their expertise in the field as a service provider. Prior to this position, he was also engaged with the on-farm water Management and National Program for the improvement of watercourses (NPIW) holding the charge of District Thatta, Tandoallahyar, and Hyderabad with the aim to enhance and promote hydro geological practices in Sindh Province.
His tenure with the Government of Sindh was started in the capacity of Agriculture officer with the Department of On-Farm Water Management Sindh from 1985 to 1988, wherein he worked for the research and development work to identify the issues and challenges pertaining to the water conservation and utilization and suggest different projects/ schemes to transform and develop the most important and valuable subsector of Agriculture Sector and it was his first achievement to prepare & formulate PC-I for the department of On-Farm Water Management all according to his R&D work and own visions.
He is currently working as Agriculture Sector Analysis Expert (Consultant) in one of the USAID Project for the formulation of Domestic Commerce Policy for Sindh. The major is to identify Inter-provincial Trade of Sindh as a vector of growth and competitiveness and Efficiency of Domestic Markets of Sindh and to identify trade barriers, laws and regulations, stakeholders involve in the trade, governance of the trade and other factors. He is also working with FAO as FIRST Policy Specialist for Sindh where his major assignments are to propose policy reforms and agriculture action plan for Sindh Agriculture Policy.
He is appointed as Member of the Advisory Board for South Asian Conservation Agriculture Network- SACAN where he is assigned to lead and restructure SACAN’s Sindh Chapter with the mission to sensitize the planners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to transform Agriculture, Water, and Energy sectors of Sindh to meet emerging challenges in prevailing climate change scenario.
For his academic experience, he has done BE in Agriculture from Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam and done his specialization in Sustainable Fisheries Farming from NACA KASSISART University, Bangkok, Thailand. Other than this, he has also participated in different certification courses with respect to his field of study which includes Modern Farming using Agricultural Mechanization, Entrepreneurship opportunities related to Agribusiness in Pakistan, Supply Chain Management considering Buy Back solution from Fork to Farm, Integrated & Conservative Water Management, Livestock & Dairy Management