International Cooperation
17.2 COOPERATION WITH INTERNA- TIONAL ORGANISATIONS
17.2.1 FOOD & AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO):
India collaborates with the FAO in the form of training, consultancy services, equipment and material in the field of agriculture and allied sectors under its Technical Cooperation Programme(TCP). FAO India has formulated a Country Programming Framework (CPF) for India for the year 2018. This document will be succeeded by a new country programming framework for the period 2019-2022 in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF).
Important FAO events/meetings attended:
i. The 161st Session of the FAO Council was held in Rome, Italy during 08-12 April, 2019.
ii. The 41st Confernce of FAO of Election of Director General, FAO was held in Rome, Italy during 22nd-23rd June, 2019.
iii. The 46th Session of the Committee on World Food Security was held in Rome, Italy during 14th-18th October, 2019.
iv. The 163rd session of the FAO Council was held in Rome, Italy during 2-6 December, 2019.
The details of the major projects which are currently under implementation with FAO assistance in the States are as under:
(i) Strengthening Agriculture and Allied Sector Contributions to India`s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2008 and National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs): The Project is implemented in the States of Kerala, Punjab and Mizoram. The project supports the efforts of the Government of India (GOI) with increased capacity at national, state and local levels through the development of policy with strategy and an action plan on mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into agriculture and allied sectors.
(ii) Implementing, Monitoring and Analyzing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) Programme: The project is implemented in the States of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. The TCP provides technical support to establish and strengthen a country-owned, robust policy monitoring and analysis mechanism in the areas of food and agriculture.
(iii) Technical Assistance for Development of Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Mizoram. The project is implemented in the State of Mizoram to strengthen the capacity of community
stakeholders to improve livestock management; for sustainable and ecological jhum management and to develop business plans for sustainable value chain development.
(iv) Technical Assistance for Development of Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Nagaland. The project is implemented in the State of Nagaland to strengthen the capacity of community stakeholders for sustainable and ecological jhum management, develop business plans for sustainable food value chains and improve and upgrade the agricultural curriculum.
(v) Scaling-up agro ecology through policy support and farmer field schools on Zero Budget Natural Farming: The objective of the project is to strengthen methodologies and capacities on agro- ecology to improve farmer livelihoods and ecosystem resilience in India.
(vi) Time-critical measures to support early warning and monitoring and sustainable management of the Fall Armyworm in India: The objective of the project is to increase resilience of rural livelihoods to climate change, recurrent natural disasters and assistance in trans- boundary cooperation.
(vii) Scaling-up agro-ecology through policy support and Farmer Field Schools on Zero Budget Natural Farming: The objective of the project is to improve agricultural productivity and increase farm incomes and to reduce vulnerability, enhance social inclusion, skilling and employability in the agriculture sector.
(viii) Sustainable and resilient livelihood options for rain-fed areas of India through improved integrated crop livestock farming system: The project is implemented in rain-fed areas to enhance resilience and sustainability of livelihood options in rural rain-fed areas for farmers through integrated crop livestock farming.
17.2.2 WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP):
Set up in 1963, the WFP seeks to provide emergency feeding in places facing acute food insecurity due to natural calamities and man-made causes. The present share of the Government of India for the biennium is US $1.92 Million towards WFP Pledge Contribution which is used by them to support the WFP India Country Programme.
Besides, GoI makes an annual payment of Rs. 30 Lacs to UNWFP Country Office towards their Local Operating Cost (LOC).
Under a seat sharing arrangement with Afghanistan, India will be member of the Executive Board in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
A WFP India Country Strategic Plan (CSP: 2019-2023) has been approved in the 2nd Regular Session of the WFP Executive Board Meeting in Rome during 26-29 November 2018. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between GoI and the UNWFP was signed for 2019-2023.
17.2.3 INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)
India is a founder member of IFAD and a key contributor among the member countries.
IFAD funds are derived from member
contributions (made in replenishment cycles), investment incomes and special funds. India has so far pledged US$ 211 million, for the current replenishment cycle 2019-2021. The Government of India pledged US$ 60 million. The Department of Economic Affairs is the nodal for IFAD in India.
Currently, the following projects with assistance from IFAD are under implementation in the agricultural sector:
(i) Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project – Implemented by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh, the overall goal of the programme is to improve incomes and strengthen drought resilience. The Development Objective is to strengthen adaptive capacity and productivity of agriculture in the rainfed areas of five districts in southern AP.
(ii) Fostering Climate Resilient Upland Farming System in Northeast (FOCUS) (Nagaland & Mizoram) – Implemented by the states of Mizoram and Nagaland, the overall goal of the project is to increase agricultural income and to enhance their resilience to climate change. This would be achieved through the development objective of increasing environmental sustainability and profitability of farming systems practiced by highland farmers.
17.2.4 Other International Organizations:
In addition to the 3 Organisations already mentioned, this Department is a member of the following International Organizations (IOs) and the annual contributions to these International Organizations are made as per agreed commitment/agreement:
1. Trust Fund of FAO for Desert Locust in Eastern Region.
2. Trust Fund for International Desert Locust.
3. Organization for Economic Cooperation
& Development (OECD).
4. Asia and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC).
5. Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC).
6. Global Crops Diversity Trust Fund (GCDT)
7. International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)
17.3.2 As a follow up of the various MOUs, meetings of the following Joint Working Group (JWG) were held in 2019:
Sl No Event and country Date Venue
1 4th Meeting of India-South Africa Joint Working Group
24.01.2019 New Delhi.
2 1st meeting of India-Palestine Agricultural Steering Committee
18.03.2019 New Delhi.
3 6th meeting of India-Germany Joint Working Group
27.03.2019 New Delhi.
4 1st meeting of India-Uzbekistan Joint Working Group
05.09.2019 Through DVC.
5 1st Meeting of India-Bangladesh JWG 7-8 December, 2019 Dhaka, Bangladesh
17.3.3 INDIA-NEPAL COOPERATION:
The inaugural meeting of the ‘India-Nepal New Partnership in Agriculture’ was held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Hon’ble Agriculture Minister of Nepal on 19.6.2018 at New Delhi. Among other areas of cooperation identified, India will assist Nepal in organic farming and soil health under a mutually approved Detailed Project Report (DPR) with a budgetary allocation of
Rs 5.01 crores to be provided by India. Under this Pilot Project, two training programmes on Organic Farming and Certification for 20 Nepalese participants each, was organized by the National Centre for Organic Farming (NCOF), Ghaziabad from 15th November, 2018 to 14th December, 2018 and 1st February, 2019 to 2nd March, 2019. Also, one International Course on Management of Soil Health and Fertility for 20 Nepalese 17.3 BILATERAL COOPERATION
17.3.1 MoU/MoC/Agreements/Work Plans:
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare has entered into 65
MoUs/MoCs/Agreements with 62 countries in the field of agriculture.
participants was organised during 25th November, 2019 to 24th December, 2019 at Central Fertilizer Quality Control & Training Institute (CFQC&TI), Faridabad, Haryana under the India-Nepal New Partnership in Agriculture.
17.3.4 USAID: National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad has been collaborating with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for training purposes and capacity building programmes.
The National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad and the National Institute of Agriculture Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur are also collaborating with USAID to provide training for nationals of three African countries viz. Liberia, Kenya and Malawi under trilateral cooperation envisaged under MoU with USA. Seventeen countries namely Botswana, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda from Africa and Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam from Asia have also been included under the India-USAID Trilateral Cooperation.