New Delhi, June 27 (UNI) Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Radha
Mohan Singh on Wednesday met Mr Suhrob Kholmuradov, Deputy Prime Minister, Uzbekistan and Chairman of the State Investment Committee and expressed India's desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.
The Minister, who met the Deputy PM of Uzbekistan in Krishi Bhawan, reiterated India’s tremendous progress in the agriculture sector and its commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022 through a series of reforms, namely Soil Health Card, Organic Farming, Crop insurance, irrigation, eNAM etc. He said India has become one of the most preferred investment destinations of the world.
Mr Singh said, “We are ready to partner with Uzbekistan in providing training and sharing
expertise in skill development, effective and optimum use of water for dry lands, integrated
farming systems, mechanization and farm machinery,” adding that India can provide training to
Uzbekistan for the development of Green House with the help of Centre of Excellence (CoE).
India is currently importing moong, natural gum, walnut, chickpeas, and juices from Uzbekistan.
The Minister urged Mr Suhrob to also consider importing mango, potato, wheat, meslin, sugar
etc from India.
Mr Singh stressed on the importance of constitution of agricultural clusters for small and
marginal farmers and fragmented land holdings and offered to share India’s experience in the
formation of FPOs and cooperatives in order to ensure better returns to farmers.
He also assured the Deputy Prime Minister that the revised draft agreement on cooperation in the field of Plant
Quarantine as proposed by Uzbekistan is under active consideration.
The Minister also called for the need to promote interaction among government agricultural
institutions, experts, scientists and agro business. He further expressed interest to work together
in the area of animal husbandry and was willing to assist in setting up food processing industries
in Uzbekistan.
UNI NY AR 2028