India To Unlock Africa's Agribusiness Potential

By siliconindia | Monday, 03 February 2014, 04:20 Hrs

According to a FICCI-PwC theme paper, in Sub-Saharan Africa farming techniques need improvement in order to offer opportunities to the small holder farmers to get out their way out of poverty. Also, the agro-based industry needs a major transformation to generate more job opportunities, revenues and food for the growing population.

Under the South-South Initiative, India has been engaged in sustainable agriculture development of Africa. The Indian Council of Agriculture Research, International Agriculture Consulting Group and ICRISAT last year formed the Platform for India-Africa Partnership in Agriculture (PIAPA) to "transform Africa", providing Indian expertise and experiences to finding solutions to their food and agriculture development challenges.

ICRISAT will use its Agribusiness and Innovation Platform initiative to help set up agribusiness incubators for farmers across Africa, along the lines of its networks of incubators in India.

A recent meeting in Mali capital Bamako mapped out an upscaling agenda for private, public partnerships based Inclusive, Market Oriented Development (IMOD) in West and Central Africa. Some success stories of IMOD include formation of farmers' and womens' groups in Niger to produce quality seeds and training them on small-scale business skills and marketing.

Source: IANS