Hyderabad, India
December 2, 2014
ICRISAT Deputy Director General for Research Dr CLL Gowda exchanging the signed MoU with HIA Director Mr David Cliffe at the ICRISAT global headquarters in Hyderabad, India
A new research agreement was signed today between the Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) at the institute’s global headquarters in Hyderabad, India. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will allow researchers from ICRISAT and Australian agencies to undertake joint research and development (R&D) in plant genomics for the first time through HIA. The agreement was signed by Mr David Cliffe, HIA Director and Dr William Dar, ICRISAT Director General.
“We are excited that through this collaboration with HIA, ICRISAT and Australia will be doing not only high-quality but also high-impact research that is expected to reach and benefit millions of farmers and consumers globally,” said Dr Dar of the agreement.
Acknowledging the support from ICRISAT, Mr Cliffe emphasized the importance of the new partnership. “HIA is glad to start this collaboration with ICRISAT in the area of modern genome science including sequencing, genotyping and functional genomics, that will help advance the horticulture industry in Australia and worldwide.”
“We have completed the genome sequencing of reference genomes of leading legume crops such as chickpea and pigeonpea, having sequenced the genomes of more than 1000 lines of these legumes. We are very keen to work with HIA to accelerate their efforts in the area of genome sequencing and analysis,” said Dr Rajeev Varshney, Director of ICRISAT’s Center of Excellence in Genomics and the Research Program on Grain Legumes. Dr Varshney is a world leader in applied genomics in field crops, and has strong linkages with a number of Australian researchers.
“The application of genomic tools has tremendous potential in reducing the breeding cycle in horticultural crops for the benefit of the Australian industries,” said Dr Alok Kumar from HIA, who negotiated for the research partnership between ICRISAT and HIA.
Dr David Moore, General Manager, HIA and several researchers from the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; the University of Queensland; and the Queensland University of Agriculture & Technology (QUT) are visiting India as part of the HIA-led delegation.
Both ICRISAT and HIA have committed to explore other areas of research in a number of horticultural crops.
About ICRISAT
The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi-arid tropics have over 2 billion people, and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT innovations help the dryland poor move from poverty to prosperity by harnessing markets while managing risks – a strategy called Inclusive Market- Oriented Development (lMOD). ICRISAT is headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, with offices in eight countries in Africa. It is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. www.icrisat.org. For ICRISAT’s scientific information see: http://EXPLOREit.icrisat.org
CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research Centers who are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org
About the Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited
The Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (HIA) is a not-for-profit, grower-owned Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia’s $9.5 billion horticulture industry. It works in partnership with Australia’s horticulture industries to invest in research, development and marketing programs that provide benefit to industry and the wider community. HIA invests more than $100 million in research, development and marketing programs annually. www.horticulture.com.au
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