Working with India on sustainablefood system that is future-proof

India and the Netherlands are strengthening agricultural collaboration through ‘Seed Secretariat’, expanding centres of excellence, educating and training farmers together to achieve good production. Speaking to Mohita Tewari, Netherlands’ vice-minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature, Jan-Kees Goet, who was in the city to ink a memorandum of understanding with the UP govt, shed light on Indo-Dutch agricultural ties and collaboration. Excerpts:
Q. The Netherlands is a major agricultural producer and exporter with a highly productive and innovative agriculture sector. Please share some best practices that the country follows in its agriculture sector.
Ans. Since the Netherlands is a very small and densely populated country it is really important to have high production on a small surface. Since depleting water resources is a challenge everywhere, including India, we also focus on the judicious use of water. We do circular production (a model for production and consumption that aims to reduce waste and extend the life of products and materials) so that we can reuse water in our greenhouses. One example of breakthrough innovation in agriculture is the circular water use in greenhouses.
Q. The Netherlands and India have formalised cooperation under a Joint Action Plan. How do you see the extension of this partnership for achieving sustainable agriculture goals?
Ans. We have a joint action plan between India and the Netherlands and we meet each other every year. In this action plan, we have subjects for cooperation, and important subjects for both govts are innovation, precision farming, and the use of pesticides: making its use as low as we can, seed development, seed production, and one of the most important things is sustainable food production and making it affordable for farmers so they have a good income. Through Joint Action Plan both India and the Netherlands are aiming to create a sustainable food system that is future-proof.
Q. What are the innovative solutions that can help India improve yield, enhance climate change resilience, reduce food losses, and create a more sustainable food system?
Ans. A sustainable food system delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social, and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised. It begins with good seed material for the farmers; hence seed development is very important. This week, we signed a memorandum of understanding for a seed secretariat between India, the Netherlands, and businesses together to make the best quality seeds available to farmers. After this, the next step is farmer management, which includes educating farmers, which is very important. Along with having good quality seeds, it’s essential to know all about soil, water management, and others. Lastly, bringing the farm product to consumers is also important. There should be a proper chain between the producer and the consumer so that there are no food losses. Also, the Netherlands and India have a successful collaboration in the Centre of Excellence. There are eight operational Centres of Excellence, and we are thinking of expanding them further. These are hubs where Dutch technologies are demonstrated to Indian farmers and other agri-entrepreneurs to improve yield and deal with uncertain weather patterns.
Q. Please shed some light on climate-sustainable agriculture practices adopted by the Netherlands.
Ans. Our govt has set a target of 55% greenhouse gas reduction by 2030, and agriculture has a crucial role to play in it. We are investing in the development of climate-resilient crops to deal with challenges like increased salinity in soil, flooding, and drought. A toolkit will be developed with green-blue innovation and resilient crops. Our greenhouses need energy to maintain temperature when it is cold outside. Earlier, we used natural gas, and now we are trying to demonstrate the use of geothermal energy to heat our greenhouses.
Source: Indiatimes