9-11 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓,𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐮: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Royal Government of Bhutan, marked a historic milestone as the Department of Agriculture hosted the first-ever Annual Meeting of the Asian and Pacific Network for Testing of Agricultural Machinery (ANTAM) from 9 to 11 December in Thimphu and Paro, following Bhutan’s membership to ANTAM in 2019.
ANTAM is an initiative led by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific – Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (ESCAP-CSAM), aimed at harmonizing agricultural machinery testing standards across the Asia-Pacific region.
The network works to ensure the sustainability, quality, safety, and environmental performance of agricultural machinery by harmonizing testing standards and procedures, promoting mutual recognition of testing results, strengthening testing facilities through capacity-building initiatives, reducing the social and economic costs of unsafe and inefficient machinery, and facilitating intraregional trade in sustainable agricultural machinery.
The three-day Twelfth Annual Meeting, attended by 15 participating member countries, was conducted by the Agriculture Machinery and Technology Centre (AMTC) and co-organized by ESCAP-CSAM. The programme included a technical visit to the AMTC testing centre, along with field demonstrations of agricultural machinery testing being conducted in Bhutan, specifically, vibration and sound level test for mini tillers and brush cutters, and testing of rice mills.
Hosting the meeting brought significant benefits to Bhutan, including enhanced institutional visibility and leadership in regional agricultural mechanization initiatives, strengthened technical capacity of national testing facilities through knowledge exchange, exposure to harmonized international testing standards, and opportunities for collaboration and mutual recognition of machinery testing results. The meeting also supported Bhutan’s efforts to promote safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable farm mechanization, contributing to improved agricultural productivity and facilitation of regional trade in agricultural machinery.
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