PM calls for Asia-Africa cooperation for agri, rural growth

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday called for joint efforts by Asia and Africa for a global regime to access funds and green technologies for rural socio-economic growth and for best outcomes at climate change negotiations and the upcoming Rio+20 conference in Brazil. “We have to work together to build a favourable international regime that enables us to access funds and green technologies for rural economic and social growth. We should put our heads together to work for the best outcomes at the climate change negotiations and the forthcoming Rio+20 conferences in Brazil,” he said. In his address at the inaugural session of the golden jubilee celebrations of Afro- Asian Rural Development Organisation, the Prime Minister said there was also need to tackle short-term and long-term environmental challenges faced by the two economies. He called upon scientists and experts to refl ect on technologies and processes that are most suitable for rural conditions and circumstances, both in Africa and Asia. Calling for encouraging more investment and trade in agriculture between Asia and Africa and the role of private sector in this, Dr Singh said Indian investment was fl owing into Africa in agro-processing, agricultural machinery and fl oriculture. He stressed on encouraging investment fl ows and Indian farm technologies and practices relevant for African conditions. Reminding the conference of the “daunting” challenges confronting both Asia and Africa, including threats to international peace, the Prime Minister said the processes of globalisation and growing inter-dependence among nations posed fundamental new challenges to economic sustenance. He said India had attempted to bring about rural reconstruction through development programmes aimed at poverty alleviation, employment generation, infrastructure development and provision for social security. In recent years, rapid economic growth had provided revenues to fund a massive expansion in anti-poverty programmes. Pointing out that India had a vision for partnership with Africa to deal with some of these common challenges of the 21st century, he said India had initiated the India- Africa Forum Summit process in 2008, during which the leaders of India and Africa agreed on a Framework for Cooperation for a sustainable and wide-ranging partnership in development. The fi rst area of cooperation identifi ed under this framework was agriculture; he said and added that the thrust of the fi rst phase of cooperation in this sector was on capacity building. The Prime Minister said India would provide more than 500 new scholarships over the next few years particularly in agricultural sciences. India had also earmarked 700 Science fellowships named after the celebrated Nobel laureate C V Raman for Africa. As many as 150 African students had already been awarded this prestigious fellowship. India was also conducting short-term training courses in areas like water conservation, livestock and fi sheries production, farm mechanisation and post-harvest processing and value addition. The Prime Minister said both India and Africa had agreed to pool intellectual resources in development planning and joint studies had been planned on cotton production in Africa and on integrated water resource development and management of fi ve different river basins in Africa. Institution building was another important facet of Afro-Asian cooperation, he said and added that India had earmarked about 100 million dollars for setting up various institutions including India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development, soil water and tissue-testing laboratories, farm science centres, agricultural seeds productioncum- demonstration centres and rural technology parks in different parts of Africa. He hoped that these initiatives would become intellectual hubs for agricultural studies and research for development. Stressing the importance of using science, innovation and entrepreneurship to give a boost to growth and employment in rural economies, Dr Singh said India was funding training and capacity building of 350 people from Sub-Saharan Africa in the area of food processing. India had also approved lines of credit worth nearly one billion dollars for projects in rural Africa in the sugar sector, rural power transmission and purchase of agricultural machinery. He suggested drawing upon own knowledge, traditions and wisdom in pursuing common goals. Observing that three quarters of the world’s poor lived in Asia and Africa, he said rural reconstruction and poverty eradication were fundamental to plans for sustainable development and inclusive growth.