Ithaca, New York
December 13, 2005
Exchanging scientific information
freely, forging cooperative research, hosting Indian executives,
students and faculty, and sharing agricultural biotechnology to
promote the development and use of drought- and pest-resistant
crops. These were just a few of the collaborations that were
strengthened when Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of
the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at
Cornell University, signed
a renewed memorandum of understanding with officials
representing the Indian Council
of Agricultural Research on Dec. 12.
The agreement was signed during a visit to Cornell by Indian
senior executives and government officials on the board of the
newly formed Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Education,
Teaching, Research, Service and Commercial Linkages (KIA).
"KIA is an initiative, signed between U.S. President George Bush
and India's Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh in July, that
provides momentum to re-energize the longstanding tradition of
knowledge exchange between the two countries," said Ronnie
Coffman, director of International Programs in CALS.
"We at Cornell are incredibly fortunate that Cornell is so high
on the KIA team's list for collaborations that the delegation
chose to visit only Cornell on this trip," added Coffman.
The Indian team members visited labs and faculty members
associated with Cornell's Institute for Genomic Diversity,
Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell
Cooperative Extension, organic agriculture, Mann Library,
Veterinary College, rice mapping, poultry program, food retail
program, Food Science Incubator and Cornell Center for
Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization.
"We are very active in agricultural research in India, and
renewing a memo of understanding with them builds on our more
than 50 years of Cornell-India collaborations concerning
agricultural education and research," said K.V. Raman, associate
director of international programs in CALS.
Among Cornell-India links are:
- extension/outreach
services to Indian farmers on agricultural technologies;
- an international
agriculture course that sends 50 Cornell students to India
each January to tour with Indian agricultural students and
faculty;
- the Agri/Food Business
Management Program and the Food Retail Executive Program
that bring high-level Indian policy planners, food industry
CEOs and faculty to Cornell each year;
- National biotechnology
symposia, conducted with the government of India, to inform
Indian stakeholders with emerging trends in global
biotechnology;
- the Rice-Wheat Consortium
and System for Rice Intensification programs to promote rice
and wheat production in India;
- the Agricultural
Biotechnology Support Project to address such issues as pest
control, drought and intellectual property technology
management in India.
Many of these programs are in
collaboration with Sathguru Management Consultants, an
India-based firm that represents CALS in India. |