Comments
India, in collaboration with the US, will provide specialised agricultural training jointly to 17 countries in Africa and Asia to help reduce malnutrition rates and improve food and nutritional security.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Agriculture Ministry in India launched the second phase of the ‘feed the future India triangular training program’ on Monday.
The programme will provide specialised agriculture training to 1,500 professionals across Africa and Asia.
The countries participating are Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Mongolia, Vietnam, Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Botswana.
Programme extension The first phase of the programme, funded by USAID and jointly implemented by India’s National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, provided training in three countries — Kenya, Liberia and Malawi.
“The impact assessments carried out for the first phase of the programme generated positive feedback. The US is, thus, expanding it to seventeen more countries. Our participation in the programme displays our soft power,” said Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak, addressing the media on the sidelines of the launch.
Pattanayak said that India had moved from being a food-deficit country in the 1960s to a food surplus economy and many African countries and some developing countries of Asia looked at it for inspiration and transfer of technology.
“By harnessing the expertise and innovation of our two great countries, we are unlocking new opportunities to address global development challenges, bringing us closer to our shared objective of eliminating global poverty and hunger,” said US Ambassador to India Richard Verma, at the launch.
Special practices The programme will train agricultural professionals in Africa and Asia on specialised farming practices such as agricultural marketing and dairy management, he added.
Specific subject areas will be identified and appropriate course content will be developed following an analysis of the capacity gap and skilled HR demand of stakeholders involved in the planning and implementation of national food security initiatives, said the Agriculture Ministry.
These may include private agro-businesses, public service providers and policy makers, for-profit and not-for-profit non-governmental organisations, professional associations, and farmers’ groups.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.