Horticulture Innovation Australia has reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), in a deal that is expected to bear the fruits of scientific development for both countries.

The deal was signed in New Delhi recently, Hort Innovation said in a release. 

Hort Innovation research general manager David Moore said the MoU would allow both countries to work on a number of agreed collaborative research areas, for the mutual benefit of horticulture growers.

“This MoU is significant because the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is the world’s largest agricultural research organisation, responsible for guiding more than 100 dedicated institutes and more than 70 agricultural universities,” he said.

“India is a massive research engine that is focused on doubling yields and farmer profitability. ICAR has an enviable record of contribution towards this, helping the nation’s horticultural output skyrocket by 950 per cent between 1951 and 2014.”

Moore added India would also benefit from the deal.

“Here in Australia, we have some excellent research institutions that have achieved enormously in the areas such as post-harvest management technologies, biotechnology, and robotics.

“This agreement is essentially providing researchers from two vastly different jurisdictions the opportunity to share their knowledge and work together to create solutions to horticulture industry issues and crop production.”

The MoU was more than three-years in the making, and was secured after a series of research prioritization workshops in Bangalore, New Delhi and Brisbane.

Research focus areas include best-practice biosecurity and post-harvest research sharing, pollination, diagnostic techniques and the application of genomics across a number of horticultural crops.

The ICAR-Hort Innovation deal complements a separate AUD$6 million (US$4.33 million) Hort Innovation research agreement with the Indian Government’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, recently signed at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi.

"These research agreements will enhance our relationships and are hopefully a prelude to an anticipated India-Australia Free Trade Agreement that would have far-reaching macro benefits for both countries," he said.

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