Hyderabad: NIRD, ICRISAT join hands to promote dryland crops

Hyderabad: City-based National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) on Monday signed a MoU to strengthen evidence-based research and capacity building on critical development issues.

The Memorandum of Understanding aims to promote collaboration between the two institutions in areas such as climate change adaptation, rural entrepreneurship development, value chain development, sharing international best practices, scaling-up of identified agricultural and rural technologies, and livelihood development, a release from NIRDPR said.

Under the agreement, the two institutions will focus on different collaborative activities by sharing each other's strengths, including developing 'Rurban' clusters for ICRISAT mandate crops through value chain development, encouraging rural incubation and entrepreneurship development by integrating with National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) activities, it said.

Enhancing the value of new generation watersheds through climate proofing of Gram Panchayats in India and promoting international best practices for poverty alleviation through agriculture and rural development programmes is also included, it said.

NIRDPR Director General G Narendra Kumar emphasised that the collaboration between the two institutions is very important in the background of international opportunities and enabling exports of agri-products from dryland areas.

"The technical competence of ICRISAT in research and development on high-yielding varieties and related value-added products, and the strength of NIRDPR in creating business opportunities and marketing support through self-help groups (SHGs) under NRLM across the country, will act in synergy to transform rural livelihoods," said Narendra Kumar.

ICRISAT Director General Jacqueline Hughes expressed her desire for the two institutions to work together for Africa, as they have several commonalities in terms of their vision, mission, and focus areas. Partnership between NIRDPR and ICRISAT is expected to have a significant impact on rural development, poverty alleviation, and food security at the village level, the release added.