Director-General and Indian Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare discuss agricultural production

11 November 2019, Rome - FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met today with Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare of India, on the sidelines of the eighth governing body session of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare introduced the agriculture policies in India, mainly focusing on agricultural productivity and production to increase farmers’ incomes and welfare, by emphasizing training and introducing organic farming.

In their talks, the Director-General and the Indian Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare discussed closer collaboration on the issues of poverty reduction, hunger and youth unemployment in rural areas, as well as the importance of preventing and controlling transboundary diseases, such as Fall Armyworm and African Swine Fever.

The parties further agreed to finalize the Country Programme Framework and to work more closely together, including through other international agencies such as CGIAR, to tackle the issue of water scarcity.