India, Ghana Sign Five-Year MoU on Agricultural Research, Technology Transfer

New Delhi, Oct 8 (KNN) India and Ghana have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Ghana’s Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI) to cooperate in agricultural research, education, technology transfer and commercialisation.

The agreement was signed in the presence of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. Arima Farms Ltd., Ghana, has been recognised as the commercial partner to CSIR-CRI for specified research and commercialisation activities under the framework.

The initial phase will focus on vegetable crop research, particularly tomato research and development. ICAR will support the scaling up of proven agricultural technologies and the introduction of suitable high-yielding tomato lines and varieties in Ghana.

The cooperation will also cover processing and value addition of cassava, yam and other tuber crops, along with post-harvest management. Areas of support will include cold storage, refrigerated transportation, sorting, grading and processing technologies to address post-harvest losses.

The MoU provides for exchange of scientists and technologists, germplasm and breeding materials, scientific information, methodologies and technical knowledge. It also includes joint research projects and institutional linkages between research institutes and centres in the two countries.

A Joint Working Group comprising representatives of ICAR and CSIR-CRI will oversee the cooperation, review its progress and guide implementation. The group will meet periodically in New Delhi and Accra.

(KNN Bureau)