Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar Friday announced the operationalisation of the BRICS-Agricultural Research Platform prepared and set up in India for strengthening the cooperation in the field of agricultural research and innovations amongst the BRICS member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The minister was addressing the 11th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers under the theme BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food Security and Nutrition.
The BRICS-Agricultural Research Platform, as a global platform for science-led agriculture, will help in addressing the issues of world hunger, under-nutrition, poverty and inequality by promoting sustainable agricultural development through strategic cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.
The BRICS-ARP has been operationalised to intensify cooperation in the areas of agricultural research, technology, policy, innovations and capacity building including technologies for smallholder farming and to sustainably increase yields and farmers income in the BRICS member countries. The platform shall escalate the exchange of research findings and innovation and best practices for upscaling in the respective BRICS nations.
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The coordinating centre of the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform is housed at NASC (National Agriculture Science Complex) Complex, Pusa under the governance of the Department of Agricultural Research & Education, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The BRICS nations have also appointed their focal points for BRICS-ARP to interact virtually through the platform and identify the common problems and develop joint projects for finding the solutions. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the focal organisation from India.
The Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar and the Ministers of Agriculture of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of South Africa met virtually Friday for the 11th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers.
Union Minister in his address said that agro-biodiversity had a prime role in addressing food security and nutrition and developing resilient agri-food systems. He appreciated the efforts of all the BRICS nations for the promotion and conservation of agro-biodiversity and addressing food security during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister of State of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Kailash Choudhary; Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education and Director General, ICAR; along with other senior officers of the two departments joined the virtual meeting at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi.