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 You are in: Under Secretary for Political Affairs > Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs > Releases > Fact Sheets > 2006 
Fact Sheet
United States Department of Agriculture
Washington, DC
March 2, 2006

U.S.-India Knowledge Initiative on Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service, and Commercial Linkages

On July 18, 2005, President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced the U.S.–India Knowledge Initiative on Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service, and Commercial Linkages (AKI). Recognizing the long history of cooperation in agriculture and the success of India's Green Revolution launched 40 years ago with U.S. assistance, the AKI builds on this tradition of collaboration and addresses new challenges and opportunities of modern-day agriculture. Through public-private partnerships, it will help to facilitate technology transfer, bolster agricultural research, education, and extension, and strengthen trade and regulatory capacity building. These, in turn, will contribute to increased prosperity for farmers and agricultural growth.

To lead the AKI, both countries created a board comprised of academia, government, and private sector representatives from the United States and India. Following a meeting on February 13–14, 2006, the board agreed to a 3-year work plan that supports the envisioned "Evergreen Revolution" that is based upon environmentally sustainable, market-oriented agriculture. The plan focuses on the following themes:

  • Education, Learning Resources, Curriculum Development and Training: A U.S.–India Joint Working Group will be established to share U.S. experiences that could benefit the ongoing curriculum revision exercise in India. The Joint Working Group will identify fellows for training and faculty exchanges, and organize and plan workshops. Institutional capacity building will focus on extension and outreach activities, library resources, and networking and leadership development.
  • Food Processing and Marketing: The plan targets training, capacity building and joint research, including quality assurance and food safety, reduction of post-harvest losses, market information systems, value addition, strengthened grades and standards, facilitation of agribusiness investment, advanced processing technologies, byproduct utilization, and bio-fuels.
  • Biotechnology: A strategic alliance is envisioned for advancing the "Evergreen Revolution" and significantly improving agricultural productivity through training, workshops, and researchon development of transgenic crops with resistance to economically important viruses, tolerance to drought, and heat and salinity, and micronutrient utilization efficiency; molecular breeding and genomics in crops and animals; development of diagnostics and vaccines against selected animal diseases; and food safety, biosafety, and licensing and intellectual property rights protection.
  • Water Management: The plan focuses on research and training in the sustainable use of water resources, water quality management and remediation, use of modern tools in water management, integrated nutrient management, and precision agriculture.

    • The board also acknowledged the importance of robust market institutions and an enabling environment for investment in agribusiness. Both countries are providing funding, with the United States pledging a total of $24 million over 3 years.

    For more information on the U.S.-India Agricultural Knowledge Initiative, please see:  http://www.fas.usda.gov/icd/india_knowl_init/india_knowl_init.asp



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