First Meeting of BRICS Vice-Ministers of Agriculture Held in Brazil; Women’s Role in Agriculture, Promotion of Organic Farming Incorporated in Joint Declaration

Indian Delegation led by Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India participated in the First Meeting of BRICS Vice-Ministers of Agriculture hosted by Brazil (17th to 18th July, 2019) in Brasilia.

The Indian Delegation included Shri G.N. Singh, Joint Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Dr. A. Arunachalam, Assistant Director General (International Relations), ICAR, New Delhi.

Mrs. Tereza Cristina, the Agriculture Minister of Brazil welcomed all the delegation from the BRICS countries and reaffirmed the BRICS’s goals and objectives.

Shri Agarwal outlined the India’s progress in the agriculture and allied sectors. He highlighted mechanisms to enhance the agricultural cooperation between the BRICS member countries to ensure the accelerated agricultural development by fortifying the agricultural research, investments and trade. Further, India affirmed its commitment to provide the enabling environment for the agricultural cooperation to enhance the productivity and also double the farmer’s income in an inclusive manner by strengthening the BRICS Agricultural Research Platform.

A final draft of the Joint-Declaration to be adopted by the Agricultural Ministers of the BRICS Countries, was finalized. A few strategic points on the women’s role in agriculture and the promotion of organic farming were also incorporated.

The BRICS Vice-Ministers reiterated the 5 priority areas by the Joint Action Plan (2017-2020) viz.:

Accelerated the agricultural development for enhancing the food security and nutrition.

Promoting the cooperation and exchange on climate change for stronger agricultural resilience to the national risks.

Strengthening the technology innovation and demonstration for greater agricultural sustainability.

Improving the safe agricultural trade and expanding the agricultural investments.

Strengthening, sharing and exchange of information for the better ICT application in BRICS agriculture.

As the Chair, Brazil will host the BRICS Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting on Agriculture in Bonito from 25th to 26th September, 2019.

During the meet, the BRICS Delegation also visited the Agri-energy and Genetic Resources Units of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). The Delegation had a glimpse of laboratory testing of new sugarcane strains and the seed and gene banks.