World Agricultural Forum: Icrisat fighting against poverty, hunger

Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Nov 25: The International Crops Research Institute for the
Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) will lead representatives from world
agriculture organisations in a discussion on South-South collaboration
to fight poverty in the dryland tropics.

At the World Agricultural Forum 2011 congress being held in Brussels,
a session on “The Role of South-South Partnerships” will address
opportunities to boost collaboration between India and Africa. It will
focus on finding new ways to feed the growing global population, and
in improving the livelihoods of marginalised, resource-poor
smallholder farmers particularly in the drylands of Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa.

“We believe that South-South partnership is the key to solving hunger
and poverty and in stimulating a greener, more productive drylands,”
says Dr William Dar, director-general of Icrisat and moderator of the
WAF session on South-South partnerships in the afternoon of November 30.

Dr Nigel Poole, chairman of the ICRISAT Governing Board, said “India
shares similar poverty and infrastructure issues with Africa, so when
successful solutions are found they need to be transferred if we
really want to implement change. Reaching out to the rural poor of
India and Africa with our research and technologies is a key challenge.”