Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal will establish ways of sharing information for research and development in the area of germplasm for plant, animals, fish, and microbes.
This was agreed on by scientists and experts from the four countries to build resilience to climate change in relation to food security in the region.
The two-day meet in New Delhi, India, also decided to promote mechanisms to strengthen food standards and safety measures, share and establish models for implementing sustainable community nutrition programmes, and devise mechanism for transfer and sharing of post harvest technologies.
This, they said, must lead to the exchange of researchers and scientists, students, food and agriculture officials, and farming communities in the region. They said the four countries must come together to share best management practices for improving input use efficiency, increasing irrigation efficiency, and extension services.
The meeting at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research also decided to promote, document, and strengthen indigenous knowledge and practices in agriculture and institutionalize sharing of weather and climate related information and agro-meteorology.
The delegates of the four countries agreed to create a suitable institution to facilitate implementation of joint programs.
The participants agreed that the four countries remain extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because of the fragile ecology of the region.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
The major threats to food security in the region include increasing population, increasing development activities, declining arable lands, and degrading natural resources.
The deputy director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Dr AK Singh, said the Eastern Himalayan region will be most affected by climate change because of its extremely fragile ecosystem and vulnerable communities.
The leader of the Bhutanese delegation, Director Chencho Norbu of the agriculture department, said Bhutan presently has weak meteorological data and the country would immensely benefit if it had access to weather and climatic data from India.
“We’ll also benefit from access to genetic resources and stress tolerant varieties,” he said. “The experience from the northeast India is very relevant to Bhutan. That’s why we must develop networks with scientists and researchers in the region.”
The two-day is a build-up to the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas – Bhutan 2011. It is jointly organised by the environment and forests ministry and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research of the agriculture ministry of the government of India.
