Day 4 of Chief Minister’s US Visit
The Chief Minister and the delegation on day four of their US visit arrived at Des Moines capital of Iowa.
The delegation will spend a lot of time studying the agricultural sector and will take tours to the farms to understand best practices followed there.
The Chief Minister visited the World Food Prize Foundation. It has a large painting of Gandhiji and George Washington Carver who was a prominent agricultural scientist from Iowa University. It was informed that both of them corresponded about diet and food and agriculture from 1929 to 1936.
A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, State of Iowa. The agreement will promote closer engagements in research and development in the fields of science, agriculture and life sciences.
Mr. Bill Northey, Secretary of agriculture of Iowa in his address extend a warm welcome to the Chief Minister and said Iowa and Andhra Pradesh share a lot of similarities of which agriculture is one.
“Together we make a commitment today to collaborate to make farmers lives better, agricultural to fare better and to wipe out hunger from the world,” said Mr. Bill Northey.
The Chief Minister in his address said that he is happy to enter into a MoC Iowa.
He said that his government is working relentlessly to double the incomes of the farmers of Andhra Pradesh, the rice bowl of India.
The Chief Minister said that he is aware of the changes taking place in agriculture. “In the past more grain used to be consumed now poultry, fish and meats and fruits consumption has increased,” the Chief Minister said.
Referring to the signing of the MoU, the Chief Minister said that it would help in increasing the seed production and research, leading to increase in crop output.
He informed the gathering of the farmer producers organizations and water users association established in the State. He said that Andhra Pradesh is adapting a number of best practices from seeds to cultivation practices to storage and post production processes.
He suggested that the MoC be implemented as early as possible.
He concluded saying that he feels delighted to have this MoC in place and complimented the work being done by World Food Prize Foundation.
Mr. Kenneth M. Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Bill Northey, Secretary of Agriculture of Iowa and CRAIG Hill director of World Food Prize Foundation, Mrs. Neeta Bushan, Consul General of India in Chicago and the delegation from Andhra Pradesh were present during the signing of the MoU