NEW DELHI, 18 Jun: The United Nations fund for agricultural development has complimented India for reviving focus on millets and exporting 1.8 million tonnes of wheat to 18 countries that faced an acute shortage of food last year in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Alvaro Lario, the president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD), also said that India’s G20 presidency has the potential to transform the global food systems as some of New Delhi’s focus areas are in sync with the UN body’s priorities.
In an interview to PTI, Lario, a noted development finance expert, said that Indian expertise could support the agricultural and rural development of other countries in the global south.
“We also appreciate India’s exports of wheat – 1.8 million tonnes – to 18 countries facing an acute shortage last year in the wake of the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Lario was in India to attend the G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting.
The IFAD is a specialised agency of the UN that has been focusing on financing projects in various poor and vulnerable countries to help them battle poverty, hunger and food insecurity.
“India has also shown thoughtful leadership in south-south cooperation. I very much appreciate, for instance, India’s focus on the revival of millets,” he said.
“We’ve seen that millets are an important crop for farmers to adapt to climate change, given that they’re drought resistant, and to ensure nutrition in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world,” Lario added.
The IFAD president said India can play a global role under its G20 presidency to transform global food systems.
“India’s G20 presidency has the potential to transform food systems. A food system includes all the aspects of feeding and nourishing people: growing, harvesting, packaging, processing, transporting, marketing and consuming food,” he said. (PTI)
