Poster Presentations
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ASSESSMENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES OF AGRICULTURE OFFICERS IN NWFP, PAKISTAN
Mubashir Habib, Student,
ABSTRACT
Professionally competent Agriculture Officers (AOs) can play an important role in the development of agriculture in the country.
This study was conducted in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) (Pakistan) to assess professional competencies of
Agriculture Officers (AOs) in January 2007. Data were collected from all (112) AOs through a mailed questionnaire. The study
examines existing level of professional competencies of AOs ands the required level of possessed competencies needed by them
for their job performance in the areas of participatory extension methodologies. Both the possessed and required levels of
competencies were scaled from 1-5 on Likert scale,1 being very low and 5 being very high. . The study revealed a numerical
difference between possessed and required levels regarding the professional competencies of the participatory extension
methodology. It was also observed that higher levels of job experience increases the professional competencies in participatory
extension methodology. It is recommended that periodic trainings and refresher courses are arranged for AOs so that their
learning may become more practicable to diffuse agricultural innovations among members of participatory learning groups and
convey modern technologies to the end users.
Key words: Professional competency, Agriculture Officers, Assessment and participatory extension methodology.
Dietary exposure of Finnish children to heavy metals: risk assessment
Johanna Suomi, Senior Researcher, Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira
Dietary exposure of Finnish children aged 1 to 6 years to cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury was determined from national food concentration data and individual consumption data of children living in the southwestern part of the country. Preliminary assessment of cumulative exposure for several heavy metals at a time was also made in the study.
The sources of the heavy metal exposure for the children were determined, and the effect of lower concentrations in important dietary sources was estimated for risk management decisions.
Heavy metal exposure from tap water was low compared with the exposure from food. For a part of each studied age group, the exposure to cadmium, lead and arsenic exceeds the tolerable weekly intake or benchmark dose. Thus, the possibility of long term health damage cannot be ruled out for some of the children.
In some food groups, the average concentrations of heavy metals in Finnish foods were found to be different from those quoted in EFSA risk assessments, based on mainly Central European data. The average lead and cadmium concentrations in cereals were somewhat lower in Finland, and tap water lead concentration in Finland was 30-fold lower than the European average.
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