India chairs BRICS working group on agriculture

NEW DELHI: Ministers of agriculture of BRICS nations deliberated virtually on the theme “BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Security” ahead of a summit, to be chaired by India, next month.

The implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development noted that BRICS countries are well positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate hunger and poverty. 

"The strong agricultural research base in BRICS countries and the need to harness and share knowledge, facilitate transfer of technologies from lab to land to provide improved solutions for enhanced productivity, especially in the face of climate change, maintaining agro biodiversity and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources was acknowledged," a statement from agriculture ministry said.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Agriculture Research platform has been developed by India to promote cooperation in areas of agricultural research, extension, technology transfer, training and capacity building. The intention behind the platform is to encourage research cooperation to improve use and application of agricultural technologies for meeting the needs of producers and processors was also expressed.

The joint declaration of the 11th meeting of BRICS and Action Plan for 2021-24 for agricultural cooperation of BRICS countries and BRICS Agriculture Research Platform were discussed in depth. This BRICS Working Group meeting will endorse the Action Plan of 2021-24 for adoption in BRICS meeting.