BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Security

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Ministers of Agriculture of the BRICS countries held virtual talks on the theme “BRICS Partnership for Strengthening Agro Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Security”.

About:

• Implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighted that BRICS countries are well positioned to help in achieving the objectives of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of eradication of hunger and poverty.
• BRICS countries have set up a strong agricultural research base.
• It also acknowledged the sharing knowledge, transferring technologies from lab to land in order to enhance productivity, especially in the backdrop of climate change, maintaining agro biodiversity and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources.
• During the meeting, member countries discussed the Joint declaration of eleventh meeting of BRICS and Action Plan for 2021-24 for agricultural cooperation of BRICS countries and BRICS Agriculture Research Platform.
• Action Plan of 2021-24 will be endorsed by BRICS Working Group meeting for adoption in BRICS meeting.

About BRICS Agriculture Research Platform

This platform has been developed by India in order to promote cooperation in the areas of agricultural research, technology transfer, extension, training and capacity building. This platform was made functional with the objective of improving the use and application of agricultural technologies to meet the needs of producers and processors.

About BRICS

BRICS is expanded to five major emerging economies namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Members of the BRICS are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. Governments of the BRICS states have been meeting annually at formal summits, since 2009. Most recent BRICS Summit (12th edition) was hosted by Russia on November 17, 2020 virtually amid the COVID-19 pandemic.