During networking sessions with APT members, it was highlighted that: 

• The sector is quite dynamic and has experienced rapid developments;
• There is a need to professionalise certain key posts; and
• There is a need to upskill employees in different fields of documentation, commercial and legal aspects of the freight forwarding business.

The training was customised to meet the needs of the sector and delivered by Latiff Mohamudally Institute of Management Ltd (LM Institute) together with the APT.

The main objectives of this project were to skill employees working directly with business and commercial firms for their regular imports and exports, both for air and sea mode; and to ensure that employees are skilled enough to manage flow of goods from vendors to buyers in a seamless way. The training also aimed to facilitate the transactions of end customers by ensuring a perfect flow of their goods through precise and correct documentation and follow up of their consignments.

Some of the salient training components included Incoterms 2020; Understanding documentary letter of credit and documentation; Legal functions of a bill of lading and the legal role and capacity of freight forwarders in a house bill of lading; Obligations and duties arising under a bill of lading; Legal remedies available to a party to a bill of lading dispute; Introduction of the international cargo liability regime for carriage of goods; and Application of Hague-Visby Rules in bill of lading and contracts of carriage.

The training programme, which comprised both theoretical and practical sessions with case studies and guest lectures, was carried out in workshop styles for around 35 participants from 10 organisations in the sector.

The desired outcomes of the programme are to upskill learners in the preparation and processing of documents, among others. Ultimately, the sector would be faced with better customer service. International implications leading to delays in consignments, penalties and losses in business would be minimised with less mistakes at that level.

Agricultural automation, often associated with “smart agriculture”, is technology that makes farms more efficient and automates the crop or livestock production cycle. Agricultural mechanisation and automation technology addresses major issues like a rising population, farm labor shortages, and changing consumer preferences. The benefits of mechanising and automating traditional farming processes are multi-faceted.

Though a number of incentives are provided by the government, in terms of schemes and grants, many operators are still reluctant to adopt mechanisation or automation technology. Previous skills studies and interface platforms have revealed a number of issues pertaining to skills in the agroindustry sector, the main ones being:

• ageing workforce amplified by youth reluctance to join the sector,
• atypical nature of jobs (eg jobs related to seasonality, unconventional working hours),
• lack of specialised or tailor made training, and
• real potential for integrating technology into a number of agricultural operations which heralds the adoption of mechanisation and or automation.

Hence, this study will attempt to identify those areas where skills development are required in the local agroindustry as well as suggest recommendations for policy formulation for proper and sustainable adoption of mechanisation and automation along the value chain while ensuring minimal skills mismatch.

The main aim of the study is to identify the areas of skills development needs across the various areas of activities in the Agro-industry sector following an assessment of the current status, as well as the future requirements, of level of mechanisation and automation along the value chain of this sector. Subsequently, specific skill development programmes may be developed to facilitate the process.

The skill development programmes will have to be developed and mounted for existing employees and new entrants respectively. Thus, the specific objectives of the study are to:

• Take stock of the level of mechanisation and automation in the sub-sectors of the Agro-industry sector;
• Take stock of the current skill level and how skills are acquired of the workforce in activities where machines and automation are involved;
• Identify the immediate and future specific skills requirements towards mechanisation and automation;
• Identify the profile of employees required by employers to implement or use mechanical (non-manual) or automation devices by size of enterprise and type of activity;
• Propose ways/training programmes to achieve the targeted skills requirements; and
• Make recommendations to policy makers to devise strategies to reduce the labour mismatch in the different sub-sectors.

The methodology to be adopted in order to conduct the study takes into consideration the specificities of operators of the local agro-industry where there are still a large number of smallholder farms, often family-based, as well as a number of medium-sized farms involved mostly at the primary level of farm production and large corporates. Those involved in processing, transformation, transportation and logistics activities will also be considered for the study.

• Online questionnaire will be addressed to employers identified from the sampling frame. Around 125 enterprises will be targeted.
• Qualitative data will be collected using focus group discussions as well as one to one in-depth interviews will be carried out with experts from the Industry who have already implemented mechanization/automation projects to supplement the quantitative information collected. Given that smallholder farms are difficult to reach, snowball method will be adopted to capture information on skills requirements.
• Preliminary findings will be discussed and debated through the Sectoral Committee for Agroindustry. Once validated the report will be published online and recommendations will be disseminated. Some of the recommendations from the study will be taken at sectoral committee level so as to come up with specific tailor-made solutions, in the form of training programmes or HRD schemes.

The main survey is expected to start in Mid October 2022 and will last for a duration of around 3 weeks.

The HRDC wishes to thank all respondents participating in the survey as well as the industry associations and stakeholders involved in this national endeavour.

In recent years, with technological advancements, the Manufacturing sector has not lagged behind and has greatly benefitted from industrial automation, making their processes smarter, faster and more efficient. As the industrial automation comprehends the advantages of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), it is becoming essential that organisations adopt these technologies. In this context the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) conducted a study on fostering automation, robotics and IIoT in the Manufacturing sector. This study helped gauge the current and future skills requirements to foster automation of the Manufacturing sector in Mauritius.

It is vital to assess the specific skills needs and come up ultimately with training programmes in automation, IIOT, Robotics, specifically for the Manufacturing sub sectors. Surveys, focus group discussions and meetings with industry associations have reiterated this. Hence the need of this very specific and contextual study.

The aim of the study was to assess the automation level in the Manufacturing sector and its sub sectors while evaluating the willingness to adopt automation of processes and come up with specific skills development programmes to facilitate the process. This study also provided an overview of the different skills which would be required for the adoption of the new technologies and indicative means to acquire those skills. Skills development programmes will be developed and mounted for existing employees and new entrants respectively.

The specific objectives of the study was to:

• Take stock of the automation skills level / adoption of automation in the Manufacturing sector; Identify the immediate and future specific skills requirements towards automation;
• Identify the profile of employees required by employers to implement/use automation devices;
• Propose ways and training programmes to achieve the targeted skills requirements; and
• Make recommendations to policy makers to devise strategies to reduce the labour mismatch in the different sectors

Around 200 enterprises were targeted and data was collected via an online structured questionnaire in a first instance. Quantitative findings were supplemented with qualitative ones via focus group discussions and interviews with experts in the sub sectors already implementing or those having concrete plans to implement automation projects. Findings were disseminated and recommendations were worked upon to come up with specific tailor-made solutions, in the form of training programmes or skills development schemes, to the issues identified.

The findings and recommendations were presented to stakeholders with specific skills development needs and other recommendations to inform them of the findings.

The main objectives of this programme are to empower local resources to:

• Ensure that products that are being developed will meet customer expectations and criteria
• Anticipate customer demand trends based on sensory analysis results
• Improve existing products
• Reduce product waste by introducing sensory analysis from beginning of product process
• Improve quality control by involving sensory evaluation at all stages of product flow.
• Select the best packaging material for a product based on its reactiveness with food ingredients and compatibility to storage conditions
• Reduce customer complaint by establishing realistic product shelf life

Desired outcome of the project

• Upgrade the skills of Mauritian professionals working in the food industry.
• New competencies acquired will, in turn, allow the food manufacturers to make progress by innovating in a methodical way and proposing products that are adequate to customer expectations through:
• achieving the ideal product formula
• selecting the most suitable production methods
• comparing product characteristics to those of the competitors controlling raw material
• optimizing storage
• stabilising product characteristics and conservation

In general, the programme aims to:

• Expose the various strategies for developing in the emerging economies, from direct exports to the setting-up of local legal entities.
• Reassure the Mauritian potential exporters by presenting the various means for mitigating risks in the emerging countries and obtaining financial assistance to go global.
• Educate the Mauritian potential exporters on the recent, increasing trend of local content obligations.

• Understand the needs of the Mauritian firms in terms of support and technical assistance required in relation to the subject of the seminar and answer to their questions.

The programme was held in three phases, namely:

• Training session
• Onsite visits in organisations
• Public talk for knowledge sharing by the consultant

The objectives are:

• Enhance the capacity of existing employees working directly with customs in the logistics sector;
• Aim in reducing the number of errors which can be time consuming and very costly in this field;
• Help facilitating the transactions of end customers by speeding up the clearance and delivery of their goods; and
• Contribute efficiently in the global economy of Mauritius by the logistics sector.

The training programme comprised:

• theoretical components;
• practical exercises; and
• Sharing of experience from guest speakers (Actual custom officers, MCCI, experience APT members).