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Agriculture Secretary Smt. Radha Singh today called upon the Malaysian corporates to invest in agriculture and food sectors in India. She was addressing a conference on “Transformation of Agriculture and Agro-Based Sector and Cooperation among the Asian Countries” organized at 6th Malaysia International Food and Beverages Trade Fair (MIBF’05) at Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Secretary said that there are several opportunities for cooperation between both the countries for investments in the areas like export/import of advanced agricultural technologies and agricultural produce. India and Malaysia have opportunities to cooperate in the fields of agricultural mechanization, seeds, fertilisers, joint research and development and institutional tie-ups, Smt. Radha Singh emphasized.
Referring to the recently signed MoU between India and Malaysia, Agriculture Secretary drew the attention of Malaysian investors to the vast range of opportunities available in India for investment. They could invest in the in the processed food sector, establish of food processing units for third country export, also invest in packaging and processing of fruits and vegetables.
Large scale investment in agri-infrastructure projects needed for the development of post-harvest and cold chain infrastructure near to the farmer’s field. It has been assessed that an investment requirement of over US $ 2.5 billion (Rs.11,172 crore in next ten years) would be necessary for infrastructure development for agricultural marketing. India is providing capital investment subsidy on infrastructure projects, to encourage a major portion of investment from private sector, in agriculture and allied sectors including dairy, meat and fisheries, Smt Radha Singh said.
India is one of the leading producers of many farm commodities, and second with share in world fruit and vegetable production is 10 per cent and 13.38 per cent respectively. India is the world’s largest producer of indigenous buffalo meat, second largest producer of indigenous goat meat, fifth highest producer of indigenous chicken and duck meat and fourth highest producer of hen eggs. India has a favourable health and environment regime for poultry production, disease free.
India is the highest milk producer in the world with a production of about 88 million tonnes and still growing at about 4.0 per cent. This sector in India needs interventions in the areas of clean milk production complying with greater applicability of codex standards. This offers opportunities for investment, and cooperation among Asian countries, she explained.
Smt. Radha Singh was confident that adoption of appropriate technologies would help in overcoming challenges cropped up from the growing population, extensive use of natural resources and vagaries of weather.
Smt. Radha Singh is leading high-power delegation to Malaysia, which includes representatives from the Agriculture Produce Export Development Agency (APEDA) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
SK:RC:HK:indomal-140705
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