India can be a model for the world that strives for food security, visiting US President Barack Obama said in Mumbai before leaving for the Capital. The collaboration between the two countries also contributed to India?s first green revolution in the 60s, Obama said.
?I will be discussing with Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh, how we can advance the cooperation in the 21st century, not only to benefit India, but to benefit the US and the world.? He shared his experiences about Indian agriculture with students at the St Xavier?s College, after visiting two expos and interacting with villagers.
?I was with two expos that underscores the partnership we can make together. The first is focused on agriculture and food security, that they will see innovation in technology and research that has transformed the Indian farming,? he said.
The US President narrated how a farmer told him about receiving crop information on cellphone, while another showed him tools of appropriate size and weight that help women to improve productivity and said many of these innovations were a result of public and private collaboration between the US and India.
In March 2010, India and the US had signed an MoU to cooperate in agriculture and food security.
Food security has been on the agenda before the visit of President Obama?s visit. ?Agriculture would be one of the main focus areas of the presidential trip to India. The trip would discuss how innovation can support the kind of agriculture that allows people to have a broader food base,? Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communication had said from the White House before the visit by the President commenced.
Experts on Indo-US relations expect more food and agriculture cooperation-related announcement on Monday. The President?s delegation already consists of USAID administrator Raj Shah and agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack.
Before the visit began, Rhodes had indicated a whole host of of innovations and technologies that the US would focus on in the area of agricultural cooperation.
?The US has been part of food security initiative in Africa, where we are trying to apply technology, innovation, capacity building to help African farmers lift their countries and their standard of living. We see great potential for the US and India to cooperate, not just within India but in African countries as well, to apply the extraordinary lessons learned within India and the extraordinary innovations made by the people to support development in other parts of the world,? Rhodes had said.