October 18, 2007

US initiative continues to help revitalise India's Green Revolution

The US-Indian Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI), a growing agricultural collaboration between the US and India, is helping Indian farmers boost their output to meet international export standards. 

The partnership aims to strengthen food security, increase technology information exchange and expand investment in India's farm sector.

The initiative involves universities, research institutions, corporations, the USDA, US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other agencies. .

AKI's long-term goal is to revitalize the green revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and reduce hunger and poverty in India.

The US has committed US$24 million through fiscal year 2008 to the partnership, begun in 2005.

Through the AKI, US universities are teaching India's food industry practices such as maintaining perishable foods at proper temperatures, keeping products fresh from farm to consumers' tables and assessing health risks in foods.

Indian participants also learn about improvements in crop biotechnology, advances in food processing and marketing, water resources management, aquaculture as well as animal and plant diseases.

India's Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University near Hyderabad is one site for US-Indian cooperation. With US assistance, the university is researching new cultivation methods as well as plant protection and pest control technologies.