NEW DELHI, 28 January 2020: Indian Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar held a bilateral meeting with the Brazilian Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply Ms. Tereza Cristina Correa da Costa Dias at Krishi Bhawan in New Delhi to discuss various bilateral trade opportunities, interests and issues.
Both Ministers affirmed that agriculture is a priority for both Brazil and India and resolved to strengthen cooperation in the agriculture and allied sectors. The strong bilateral relations between India and Brazil have continued to strengthen and deepen over the years and were reiterated. The two countries have similar aspirations and developmental challenges especially for small and marginal farmers which makes the two countries natural partners.
Tomar expressed pleasure at intensification of cooperation in the agriculture sector and of the warm, friendly and mutually beneficial relationship between India and Brazil and expressed happiness that the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Agriculture was held last week and the major areas of interest emerging from the JWG meeting was exchange of germplasm of livestock and Agriculture produce, insurance & credit programme of India and various other policies for small and family farmers.
Agriculture Minister also announced approval for market access to sesame seeds from Brazil to India and thanked Brazil for granting market access to maize seeds from India.
Tomar said that the bilateral trade at US$ 1045 million in 2018-19 is way below potential and said that India is interested in diversifying the commodity basket with regard to agricultural exports to Brazil.
Brazil imports onions, fresh and dried grapes, wheat and meslin, maize, rice, soyabean and cotton from other countries of the world.
Tomar further discussed several issued of mutual importance including the Market access issues and Brazilian investment in India. Brazil and India agreed to work towards expeditious resolving of market access to other agricultural products of interest to each other.
Both Ministers were committed to resolving outstanding issues through continuous interaction.
Tomar, in conclusion, expressed confidence that in the coming years, India’s relationship with Brazil will further gain in strength. Both the sides agreed to expeditiously finalize the Work Plan under the MoU between ICAR and Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooperation (EMBRAPA) to ensure organized and sustained engagements in the suggested sectors.
The Brazilian Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply Ms. Tereza Cristina Correa da Costa Dias said that both countries share a common challenge with a huge part of the population being engaged in agriculture and most of them being small and marginal farmers with low income and lack of market access and very little access to new technology and innovations.
Ms Correa da Costa Dias said that if we can manage to overcome the bottlenecks, it will provide a major impetus to boosting trade and business ties. Adding further she said that Wheat, Rice, Millets, Sorghum are some of the products that India would like to export to Brazil and that she will try to move forward on this as far as possible.
Ms. Dias also said that Brazil has a Zero-Tariff Program which has a quota of 750,000 tonnes which can be effectively utilized by India for furthering their exports to Brazil and thanked India for opening the market for Sesame seeds of which India is a major exported but Brazil can complement Indian production especially during the period between harvests.
Brazil is keep on exporting Avocadoes and Citrus to India and is looking forward to expand the relationship in other products as well. She also added that technology should be harnessed and teleconferencing should be used to further trade talks between the two nations before the next delegation meet.
She said as a result of the visit Brazil is taking back the creation of Joint Working Group and the cooperation between ICAR and EMBRAPA. In conclusion she said that India and Brazil has taken the first step and will walk the wider path of growth and progress together.
