India has been praised by the United Nations fund for agricultural development for its leadership in reviving global focus on millets, exporting wheat to 18 countries facing food shortage, and supporting South-South cooperation.
Alvaro Lario, the president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD), also said that India’s G20 presidency has the potential to transform the global food systems as some of its priority areas are in sync with that of the UN body.
In an exclusive interview to PTI, Lario, a noted development finance expert, said that India has shown thoughtful leadership in promoting millets, which are an important crop for farmers to adapt to climate change and ensure nutrition in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world. He also appreciated India’s exports of wheat – 1.8 million tonnes – to 18 countries facing an acute shortage last year in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Lario said that India can play a global role in its capacity as the G20 president to transform global food systems, which have been shaken to the core by cumulative shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and climate change. He said that a food system includes all the aspects of feeding and nourishing people: growing, harvesting, packaging, processing, transporting, marketing and consuming food.
He also said that India has shown thoughtful leadership in South-South cooperation, and that its expertise could support the agricultural and rural development in other countries in the Global South.
He cited the example of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), which are playing a key role in increasing exports from the country by enhancing the farmers’ benefits and adding value to their produce.
India’s agricultural exports have beaten the pandemic registering a growth of 17.34 per cent to $ 41.25 billion in 2020-21.
Lario said that IFAD, a specialised agency of the UN that focuses on financing projects to help poor and vulnerable countries battle poverty, hunger and food insecurity, is keen to collaborate with India on various initiatives to improve the lives and livelihoods of rural people.