BRICS-Agricultural Research Platform operationized to strengthen cooperation in agricultural research & innovations

BRICS-Agricultural Research Platform operationized to strengthen cooperation in agricultural research & innovations

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today announced the operationalization of BRICS Agricultural Research Platform prepared and set up in India for strengthening the cooperation in the field of agricultural research & innovations amongst the BRICS member States. The Minister was addressing the 11^th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers under the theme BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food Security and Nutrition.

TheBRICS- Agricultural Research Platform, as a global platform for science-led agriculture will help in addressing the issues of world hunger, undernutrition, poverty and inequality by promoting sustainable agricultural development through strategic cooperation in agriculture and allied sector.

The BRICS-ARP has been operationizedto 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.

The Coordinating Centre of theBRICS Agricultural Research Platform is housed at NASC Complex, Pusa under the governance of Department of Agricultural Research & Education/ICAR, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.  The domain name for BRICS Agricultural Research Platform is http://barp.org.in.All the Member States of BRICS concurred to this domain name in the Working GroupMeeting held on 12-13 August, 2021. 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 is the focal organization from India.

The Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomarand 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 today for the 11^th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers.

Union Minister in his address to BRICS Agriculture Ministers stated that agrobiodiversity has a prime role in addressing the food security and nutrition and developing the resilient agri-food systems. He appreciated the efforts of all the BRICS Nations for promotion and conservation of agrobiodiversity and addressing food security during COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minister of State of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Kailash Choudhary, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Dr.Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education & DG, ICAR, and other senior officers of the two Departments joined the virtual meeting at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi.

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