Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The first Agriculture Deputies Meeting under the Agriculture Working Group (AWG), G20 spanning across three days, concluded on Wednesday. The event was an amalgamation of experiences rich in culture, cuisine, and history, and the greater responsibility of participating in meaningful deliberations during the meetings.
Countries’ intervention on the proposed agenda by the Indian presidency was well received and discussed. The final day of the event started with technical theme- wise sessions wherein, deliberations were held on four themes covering: “food security and nutrition”, “sustainable agriculture with climate smart approach”, “inclusive agricultural value chains and food systems”, and “digitalization for agricultural transformation”.
For discussion on technical session of Food Security and Nutrition, the opening remarks were delivered by Shubha Thakur, joint secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) followed by context setting by World Food Programme (WFP).
Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, additional secretary, DA&FW presented the Global Framework on Food Security and Nutrition.
Franklin L. Khobung, joint secretary, DA&FW delivered the opening remarks for the technical session on Sustainable Agriculture with Climate Smart Approach, followed by context setting by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Technical session on Inclusive Agricultural Value Chains and Food Systems was opened by Dr Abhilaksh Likhi and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) set the context for discussion.
For technical session on Digitalisation for Agricultural Transformation, opening remarks were delivered by Dr PK Meherda, additional secretary, DA&FW. The discussion context was set by ICRISAT.
During each theme-based technical session, there was an open house discussion involving intellectually rich exchange of ideas, suggestions, and observations. Insightful presentations paved the way for agricultural transformation and the importance of digitalisation in agriculture with a special emphasis on smallholder farmers.
Concluding remarks and way forward was presented by the session chair Manoj Ahuja, secretary, DA&FW emphasising the need to have greater convergence and collaboration among the G20 member countries on agricultural research and development aspects.
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