Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has offered to collaborate with Telangana for South-South Cooperation in the development of seed sector in African countries.
Making the offer during a discussion on the sidelines of the FAO meet in Rome on Saturday with Principal Secretary (Agriculture) C. Parthasarathi and director of Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority K. Keshavulu, FAO assistant director general Bukar Tijani said Indian seed industry is gradually expanding its market and establishing business operations in the African countries as those countries grow similar crops as India.
Seed industry growing
In this direction, Indian seed industry has huge scope and Telangana would have to help FAO in South-South cooperation programmes, particularly in the seed sector development in African countries, Mr. Tijani said. He added FAO is ready to collaborate with Telangana on the seed sector development and extend support.
During the discussion, Mr. Parthasarathi explained the status of agriculture, horticulture and seed sector activities in Telangana. Mr. Keshavulu, through a presentation, briefed about seed exports from India under OECD seed schemes.
Complimenting the efforts made by Telangana, Mr. Tijani said seed is the key input for sustainable agriculture development and one of the mandate of FAO is to develop the seed sector in all developing countries to make quality seed available to farming community. He also agreed to participate in the International Seed Testing Association Congress in Hyderabad in June-July next.
State schemes discussed
Earlier, during a panel discussion on the successful examples of well-functioning agricultural innovation systems, which created huge impact on the lives of small, marginal and resourceful farmers in a short time, Mr. Parthasarathi spoke about Agriculture Investment Support (Rythu Bandhu) and Group Life Insurance (Rythu Bima) schemes being implemented in Telangana for the benefit of farmers.
He explained that Rythu Bandhu benefited a total of 5.10 million farmers who were given investment support worth US$ 144 million. Similarly, Rythu Bima has helped over 3,500 families overcome distress as they were given an assistance US$ 6,849 each within 10 days of the death of family head – farmer. He stated that over 2.80 million farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years have been enrolled in the scheme so far. The two schemes have been taken up to provide income security by enhancing agricultural productivity and provide social security to farmers and their families, he noted.