U.S., India Sign Agreement to Strengthen Agricultural Marketing Systems in India

July 11, 2006

New Delhi – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Institute of Agriculture Marketing (NIAM), India’s nodal agency for promotion and training on agricultural marketing, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on strengthening agricultural marketing systems in India with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of Indian agriculture.

Under the agreement, USAID will provide technical assistance to NIAM and state agencies in development of grades and standards, food safety warehousing, cold storage and cold chain management. Through the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Services Marketing News System (a valuable tool that provides U.S. farmers with accurate, up-to-date agriculture information) as a model, NIAM and USAID also will upgrade India’s existing marketing news information and marketing extension system to better serve Indian farmers.

The USAID-NIAM agreement signals greater collaboration between the U.S. and India, their institutions and their organizations in areas of mutual benefit and interest relating to agricultural marketing. Together they will identify, establish and develop institutional linkages between Indian and U.S. domestic agencies through short term training, faculty exchanges, library support, documentary material development and other technical assistance.

More than two thirds of the India’s population works in agriculture and relies on it for their source of livelihood. Further development of marketing tools, storage, packaging and processing has the potential to greatly increase income and productivity in the sector.