BRIC ministers to discuss cooperation in agriculture

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations, with total population of 2.7 billion, will explore opportunities of cooperation in the field of agriculture.

The agriculture ministers of the four countries, during their three-day meeting in Russia on March 25, will finalise a draft on cooperation on food security, climate change, technology and knowledge sharing to increase agriculture productivity and promotion of bio fuel to reduce reliance on fossil fuel. It will be a prelude to the meeting of heads of states of these countries in Brazil in April.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who left for Russia this afternoon, told Business Standard today, “agriculture ministers will arrive at a consensus for the proposed cooperation on food security, and measures to deal with the impact of climate change on agriculture”.

He said the meeting would discuss the successful conclusion of the WTO Doha round. The BRIC countries have been consistent in their views that protectionism remains a real threat to the global economy and should be avoided, both in direct and indirect forms.

Pawar said, though India favours bio fuel or bio diesel to reduce high use of fossil fuel, the government is of the view that it should not be at the cost of food security.

Pawar’s participation at the meeting comes at a time when the empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the draft Food Security Bill. The draft Bill envisages food security allowance and a monthly allocation of 25 kg food grain to each BPL family.

Pawar said: “The agriculture ministers of BRIC will renew their commitment to overcome the global food crisis. This is possible as Russia and Brazil have resources and land, while China and India have the expertise in technical knowledge. A draft of cooperation in agriculture with special focus on food security, which is quite crucial to meeting future contingencies will be cleared in the ensuing meeting.”