India for agri-cooperation with Turkey and United States

The Dollar Business Bureau Agriculture Ministers of India and Turkey, on Thursday, discussed bilateral cooperation and shared mutual interests for furthering agriculture cooperation between the countries. The Indian Agriculture Minister, Radha Mohan Singh, met his Turkish counterpart Mehmet Mehdi Eker for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 Agriculture Ministers' meeting at Istanbul. In the meeting, both the sides agreed to hold the 2nd Steering Committee meeting aimed at enhancing the cooperation in Agriculture sector between the two countries. The Indian Minister also expressed the country’s willingness to participate in the International Horticulture Expo being organised at Antalya, Turkey from April 23, 2016. Besides, the Indian minister also met the United States Agriculture Minister and both the sides agreed to expedite the Memorandum of Understanding aimed at enhancing the agri-cooperation between the two countries. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also invited India to join the ‘Global Research Alliance’ on crop and animal production, as well as the ‘Climate Smart Alliance’. The USDA offered to write to the Indian Agriculture Minister outlining the action taken on both the initiatives. In his address at the G20 meeting, the Union minister stressed on the need of research in the agricultural sector in order to enhance the production and productivity which also addresses to contain the price volatility. Speaking on the role of G20 countries in combating the food insecurity and the malnutrition globally, the Union minister said the G20 leaders are focused on the need for increasing investment and enhancing financial support for agricultural development. The G20 leaders have welcomed commitments made through the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) and other bilateral and multilateral channels during the Seoul Summit, he added. The minister further informed about an action plan that has been formulated on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture to address the impact of increasing world food demand and accompanying price volatility. He said the initiatives endorsed by the G20 leaders at the Brisbane Summit has identified three outcomes for long term priority objectives to address the challenges related to the agricultural sector. With the reduction in the size of land for agriculture due to rapid urbanisation, India firmly believes that with shrinking resources, enhancement in productivity and production can only be achieved through research in this sector, said the minister. Besides this, there is also a need to strive for research on produce storage and handling protocols, scale up investment in agriculture-linked-industry and jointly develop a centre of excellence in post –harvest and market linked supply chain in order to witness a overall growth in agriculture sector, he added.    

May 8, 2015 | 6:31 pm IST.