Indian Council of Agricultural Research signed on Monday two workplans agreement with International Center for Research in Agroforestry, Kenya and the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Russia for collaboration in the field of agriculture and related subjects.
ICAR and the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry have signed a four year workplan for collaborative research on agroforestry, primarily for dealing with the climate change effects and to provide secure livelihood systems to small and marginal farmers in various part of the country.
Both the organizations will strengthen linkages between research and development, improvement and development of agroforestry in the country. Through the development of the technologies, which are tailored in a way that the small and resource poor farmers can adopt, very large number of farmers is expected to be benefited.
The workplan was signed by Dr. Mangala Rai, Secretary DARE and Director General, ICAR and by Dr. Dennis P. Garrity, Director General, ICRAF in New Delhi on Monday. The workplan will be jointly sponsored and implemented through the National Agricultural Research Systems of the country. ICRAF is one of the fifteen international agricultural research centres under the aegis of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and is based in Kenya.
Through another work-plan agreement, ICAR and RAAS, both the organizations will cooperate in areas of research and training, improvement of production techniques and extension thereof through exchange of germplasm and breeding material, scientific information and methodology, etc. They also agreed to develop and implement collaborative research projects. The agreement was signed by Dr. Mangala Rai, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General, ICAR and Dr. Ivanov Andrey, Vice President, RAAS, Russia.
A joint working group will be set up with representatives from both organizations to follow up the execution of the agreement and suggest necessary measures for its development. A four-member Russian delegation led by Mr. Ivanor Andrey, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences will also be visiting the following ICAR Institutes and State Agricultural Universities.
