India, US to train 1,500 farm professionals from 17 nations

India and the US today launched the second phase of a global programme under which 1,500 farm professionals from 17 countries across Africa and Asia will be trained in new agriculture techniques in the next four years.
The 'Feed the Future India Triangular Training Program' will be implemented by the government's National Institute of Agricultural Extension (MANAGE) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
In the first phase, 219 professionals from three African nations -- Kenya, Liberia and Malawi were trained during 2013-15. They are now implementing the new farming techniques to increase farm productivity and income.
"The impact of the first phase was highly satisfying and hence the programme has been expanded to reach to more countries. So, in the second phase, 17 countries across Africa and Asia will be covered," Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak said after the launch.

About 32 training programmes of 15 days duration will be conducted in India and 12 training programmes of 10 days duration will be held in African and Asian countries for four years during 2016-20, he said.
The entire expenditure including participants travel, insurance, lodging, local travel and program fee will be met by USAID and MANAGE, he added.

US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said: "By harnessing the expertise and innovation of our two great countries, we are unlocking new opportunities to address global development challenges, bringing us closer to our shared objective of eliminating global poverty and hunger."
Agri-professionals will be trained from 17 countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan, Botswana, Ethiopia in Africa. Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Mongolia and Vietnam in Asia.

The first programme will be conducted by Hyderabad-based MANAGE on 'public private partnership in agriculture extension management' during October 17-31.
On pulses, he said the ICAR is engaged in development of
high yielding varieties/hybrids and associated crop production and protection technologies of various pulse crops through coordination with Indian Institute of Pulse Research, Kanpur and participation of the State Agricultural Universities, State Departments of Agriculture and other Institutes.
Technological breakthrough in pulses in terms of notification of high yielding and pest/disease tolerant crop varieties/hybrids has been achieved.
"At the farmers' fields, the frontline demonstrations (FLDs) on pulses recorded productivity gap of 15% due to non-adoption of improved variety of pulses and up to 34% due to non-adoption of the whole package of technology.

"It is estimated that by bridging this whole package productivity gap of 34% at the farmers' fields, the national pulses production can be increased from 17.62 mt (average of triennium ending 2015-16) to 23.61 mt without bringing any additional area under them and that would be enough to make the country self-sufficient in pulses for the time being," Singh observed.
The Minister said that it is proposed to cover 500 kvks through field demonstration for increasing pulses cultivation from the earlier 400 Kvks. The Minister also said that 100 seed hubs have been sanctioned for breeder seeds.
He said productivity per hectare needs to be enhanced to about 1000 kg per hectare to achieve self-sufficiency by 2025.

The minister highlighted that pulses production registered a remarkable increase from 14.76 MT in 2007-08 to a record level of 19.25 mt in 2013-14. This could be possible due to a cumulative effect of scientific interventions in the form of development of new varieties & technologies, good weather conditions and policy support.
However during the last two years, there was a decline in production, mainly due to climate adversities.
In 2014-15, the production was recorded at 17.15 MT while during 2015-16 it was 16.47 MT, well short of the current domestic requirement of about 22 MT, as a result, 5.80 mt of pulses worth Rs 18000 crore were imported during 2015-16.

Intervening in the discussion, the Minister explained that the parameters for drought relief under National Disaster Relief Fund have been changed but it is for the States to send a memorandum for seeking drought reliefs.