With its commitment to ensure the welfare and quality of life in the ASEAN region, India ensures strategic cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors by sharing knowledge and expertise and provide hand-holding with its developed technologies.
During the 5th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AIMMAF) held on October 16, 2019 in Brunei Darussalam, Indian Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Kailash Choudhary emphasized the importance of enabling climate resilience in agriculture as one of its priorities for technical cooperation.
Having had the privilege of serving as the Director General of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) from 2000 to 2014, Secretary Dar stressed the importance of technical cooperation, and the vital role that it plays in agricultural development.
“Between ASEAN and India, vast of knowledge, expertise and skills can be pooled, and both sides can only stand to gain by continuously engaging and remaining open to learning from each other,” Dar said.
He added that given the various challenges in agriculture including climate change, low agricultural productivity, emergence of transboundary diseases, land degradation and low farm family income, these could serve as common ground for strategic cooperation between ASEAN and India.
“As we commit here to cooperate, and to share each other’s skills, know-how, and experience, the challenges seem less daunting, solutions are within reach, and opportunities can be gleaned,” Dar concluded. ### (Rita dela Cruz, DA Communications Group)
