The Hindu Business Line : Indo-US project to help transfer knowledge, best practices to farms

Cultivating the best
The initiative will draw on the strengths of both Indian and American universities, research institutions, companies and farmers to harness their combined knowledge to find relevant solutions for agriculture.

Kolkata , Jan. 19

Mr Geoffrey Pyatt, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy in New Delhi, lauding the Indian Government on the proposed food safety laws, said here on Friday that use of international food safety standards is critical to the success of Indian food processors and their efforts to export Indian foodstuffs around the world.

Making a presentation on `Emerging Indo-US trade opportunities in food-processing', at a national meet organised jointly by IACC and the Government of West Bengal, Mr Pyatt said the bulk of India's economic growth is driven by the services and manufacturing sectors, "while agriculture, which represents almost two-third of the Indian workforce, continues to grow at a relatively low rate, producing only 22 per cent of GDP and falling".

He said the newly introduced Indo-US `Agriculture Knowledge Initiative' (AKI) programme is intended to lift the growth numbers by helping to transfer knowledge and best practices in a new joint framework.

"AKI's goal is to identify practical solutions that help foster efficient market-oriented agriculture in India."

According to him, the initiative will draw on the strengths of both Indian and American universities, research institutions, companies and farmers to harness their combined knowledge to find relevant solutions for agriculture that benefit all, especially farmers and consumers.

In food-processing and marketing, AKI will target training, capacity-building and joint research, including quality assurance and food safety, reduction of post-harvest losses, market information systems, value-addition, strengthened grades and standards, facilitation of agribusiness investment, advanced processing technologies, by-product utilisation and bio-fuels.

Improving India's farm productivity, according to him, depends on better market linkages from farm-to-table and wiser application of science and technology.

Second green revolution

Stating that the US and India have a proud history of cooperation in agriculture, he said India's farm sector today needs a second green revolution, "to move from supply-driven to market-driven production, enabling farmers to add more value to their product so that their incomes increase while production grows."

According to Mr Pyatt, through public-private partnerships, AKI will facilitate efficient market linkages, transfer technology for higher value-added production, bolster agricultural research, education and extension, and strengthen trade and regulatory capacity in agriculture.

`We want to help Indian farmers harness information gained from agricultural research and private sector experience for direct application in the farm sector."