Endowed with abundant natural resources, Saskatchewan is among the fastest growing provinces of Canada; and no wonder, it is known as the country’s bread basket, growing a variety of grains and oilseeds among others. Saskatchewan supplies as much as 50 per cent of pulses (peas and lentils) India imports annually. The province has rich potash reserves as well as uranium.

Taking time off from his harvest schedule, Lyle Stewart, Minister of Agriculture, in an exclusive interview to BusinessLine, shares his vision of the expanding relationship between Saskatchewan and India in the area of agribusiness. “We think our trading relationship with India is among the best in the world,” he asserted. Saskatchewan Premier, Brad Wall, is in the process of scheduling a visit to India sometime in November to further cement trade, investment and research relationship. Edited excerpts:

Why is India important for Saskatchewan?

We have a large land base with a very productive agriculture sector and a small population. While export trade is critical, Canada and Saskatchewan province in particular, are great partners for India, particularly for meeting your food and nutrition security needs. India is a huge market for commodities. Beyond trade, two-way flow of investment is important.

There are opportunities for Indian companies to establish sourcing facilities in Saskatchewan and there are similar opportunities for our companies to meet India’s investment needs in foodgrain handling, storage and logistics. Then, to meet India’s vegetable protein and vegetable oil needs, we have the capability to provide new ingredient sources for value addition. Building agriculture infrastructure offers collaborative opportunities. We believe very strongly in the Canada India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that is currently in the process of being negotiated.

Saskatchewan has a strong research base. Do you see possibilities of collaborative research that may be mutually beneficial?

Saskatchewan and India have a great fit in the area of research. In our province, innovation in the agriculture sector is driven by strong collaboration between all segments of the industry.

We are home to a number of world-class facilities. The Crop Development Centre conducts applied crop research and development along with field crop breeding. A third of all biotech research in Canada is done in Saskatchewan. About 400 new crop varieties have been released. We are strong in grains, pulses and oilseeds research; and we could collaborate with Indian research institutions for mutual benefit. Water management is one of our core strengths. We are in a position to assist India and extend research support for scientific water management.

India has a growing livestock and dairy sector. Where do you see opportunities?

The University of Saskatchewan has a strong research capacity in dairy and feed utilisation. A new dairy research facility was established there in 2013.

Collaborative research to find end-to-end solutions for the dairy sector is a great opportunity. It may cover genetics, animal welfare, feed efficiency, milk yield improvement and so on. Canola meal in dairy rations is one area. Numerous trials have established that average milk yields improve with diets containing canola meal as compared with other meals like cotton seed or soybean.

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