On a four day visit to UAE, Dr MJ Khan Chairman ICFA visited Ras Al Khaimah Chamber for discussions on trade and cooperation in food and agriculture. His Excellency Mr. Ali Alnuaimi, Chairman and Mr. M. Alsabab, DG, expressed deep interest in India’s food and agro sector and the opportunities it offered. Earlier, at RAK Authority, Director, Mr. John Cunliffe, discussed offering 175 acres of land for developing into a Hydroponic project by IACG www.iacg.in. Ras Al Khaimah is the fastest growing and most vibrant among all provinces in UAE, attracting almost 8000 companies every year, including 3000 from India. ICFA signed up comprehensive MoU with RAK Authority last year to facilitate projects and investments. Dr Khan was joined by Mr. Rakesh Chitkara, Group Advisor, ICFA and Indira Kumari, VP, Gulf and Africa, IACG.
ICFA today hosted in New Delhi a 22 members trade delegation comprised of agro cooperatives from the MERCOSUR countries – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The delegation was led by Mr. Nelson Andrade, Under Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock from Brazil. The meeting was joined by CEOs of 15 plus Indian companies and cooperatives, chaired by Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, Additional Secretary, Government of India. It drew participation of industry leaders and experts spanning sectors like seeds, dairy, agtech, fruits, bio-inputs, and poultry. They shared valuable business insights with the aim of fostering potential collaborations with Indian companies. The meeting elucidated the needs of the MERCOSUR block and Indian stakeholders. ICFA is planning to mount Indian trade delegations to Brazil and Argentina in the coming months, paving the way for enhanced business opportunities in the agricultural sector.
Ghana India Trade Chamber and ICFA signed up an MoU to promote trade, investment and agribusinesses between Ghana and India. Ghana is aggressively engaging with India and agriculture is one of the main focus. It was partner country, represented by a high level delegation led by the country’s Vice President at the CII Africa Summit that concluded in New Delhi. The agreement was signed between ICFA chairman, MJ khan and GITAC president, Mr. Dominic Oduro Antwi.
Adoption of Good Agriculture Practices is integral to Sustainable Agriculture. Certification of GAP will be mandatory for agro exports to most countries in next 5-7 years. Major food processing MNCs and European retail chains have taken pledge to buy only GAP certified agro produce by 2024. Towards achieving the objectives of doubling agro exports from current level of $ 30 billion, under the new agri exports policy launched by the Modi Government last month, India will have to accelerate edforts on bringing major exportable and industrial use crops under GAP certification. ICFA hosted in New Delhi Mr. Ben Harsbrugh, global team leader of GlobalGAP, the world certification standards body. Mr. Ben announced that ICFA will be India Partner of GlobalGAP.
Dr. MJ Khan Chairman, ICFA met with Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath In Lucknow. Discussed in details the initiatives for revitalising agriculture sector in the State and making it exports oriented. The CM took keen interest in understanding the measures to be adopted for accelerating growth and doubling farmers incomes. They discussed about giving major boost to precision agriculture, seed production programs, and tapping exports market for organic food, medicinal plants and spices. The CM appreciated much our suggestion of creating institutional mechanism for boosting the potential of the districts by adopting ICFA model of District Agriculture Councils. He asked for a plan of action on all the above points and holding a consultation meeting in Lucknow next month. While assuring to join our Global Ag Summit on Nov 6 in New Delhi, he asked if the similar program could be organised in Lucknow. Sh. SP Goyal, IAS, Principal Secretary to CM also joined the meeting.
Dr. MJ Khan Chairman, ICFA met the Belgium Ambassador to India, Mr Francois Delhaye this morning and thanked him for organising our visit to Belgium and shared observations on agro trade and business cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador also expressed his support for Brussels to headquarter the world ag forum
Dr. MJ Khan Chairman, ICFA met the Belgium Ambassador to India, Mr Francois Delhaye and thanked him for organising our visit to Belgium and shared observations on agro trade and business cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador also expressed his support for Brussels to headquarter the world ag forum.
Dr. MJ Khan Chairman, ICFA visited Sonalika Headquarters and was impressed to see the next generation feature loaded tractor. Sonalika Group is powering the farmers with innovative products and technologies. Discussed with Mr. Raman Mittal, ED about the FarmerPlus project, as support ecosystem to farmers and we agreed to pilot launch it in UP.
ICFA hosted consultation meeting with its potential partners on FarmerPlus project in New Delhi. The project is scheduled to be launched in three districts of Karnal in Haryana, Agra and Lakhimpur in UP in Dec 2019 with 20 industry and institutional partners. The project aims to provide powerful support system to initially 1000 member farmers of ICFA District Agriculture Councils. Prof. A Ginige and Paul Collin from the Western Sydney University, Australia made detailed presentation of their features loaded App, AgriSavvy, which has shown very good results in four States in India. Representatives from Ernst & Young, SourceTrace, Cargill, CropLife India, Sonalika Tractors and others participated.
National Consultation Meet on Zero Budget Natural Farming held at India International Centre in New Delhi. Important representatives from the industry, scientific bodies and farming community joined the discussions to work out common framework for ZBNF. Farmers from states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Himachal, Haryana and UP claimed that their profits have gone up but almost all the eminent scientists and industry CEOs expressed their doubts that there can be farming with zero budget. A decision is taken that ICFA will create a National Platform for Farmers Innovations and coordinate with research institutions and policy makers for validation of results and processes and recommendations.
