U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma talking to a child in the slum of Bangalore.
U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma talking to a child in the slum of Bangalore.

NEW DELHI (Diya TV) – The U.S. Agency for International Development and India’s Agriculture Ministry on Monday launched the second phase of the Feed the Future India Triangular Training Program, bringing specialized agriculture training to 1,500 agricultural professionals across Africa and Asia.

U.S. Ambassador Richard R. Verma was joined by India’s Agriculture Secretary S.K. Pattanayak to make the announcement at India’s National Agriculture Science Complex.

“The program builds upon five decades of joint work utilizing science and technology to bring innovative solutions to the challenges facing farmers,” an official press release read.

“Since the Green Revolution, India has made considerable progress in increasing its agricultural production, becoming one of the world’s largest producers of staple crops, fruits, horticulture, and dairy products,” Verma said during his address. “This increase has improved India’s food and nutritional security, and has helped reduce malnutrition rates of children three years and younger from 40 percent to 29 percent over the last 10 years.”

The training program would enable “share these innovations worldwide, helping other countries revolutionize their agriculture practices and bringing solutions to aid farmers in their production, harvesting and marketing of goods,” Verma added.

The program will enable India and the U.S. to share the farming techniques that are developed globally, helping countries in Africa and Asia revolutionize their agriculture practices and ultimately, improve global nutrition levels.

Many places across the world have used these agricultural practices to enhance the production of other things such as cannabis for medicinal growth. Furthermore, many of these businesses have adapted to a commercial grow room design, which helps to provide higher-yields and faster production.

With India’s premier National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management at the forefront, the program will train 1,500 agricultural professionals from 17 countries across Africa and Asia on specialized practices that can improve food security and nutrition.

During the first phase of the program, more than 200 farmers from Kenya, Liberia and Malawi were trained as a result.