Niigata Dialogue to focus on agriculture in Japan, India

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 18, 2009: JNU-Japan Alumni Association and Indo-Biz Support, a non-profit organization, in association with Niigata Prefectural University, will hold a symposium on Japan-India Agricultural Cooperation titled “Niigata Dialogue” to explore cooperation in agricultural research and global food security. The event will be held on Dec. 4, 2009 at Cross Pal, Niigata City, Japan.
“The Niigata Dialogue’s primary objective is to focus on agriculture as a sector including, but not limited to food grain production, a number of related fields as well such as agricultural commodities, food processing, technologies associated with these, and application of appropriate modern machinery and equipment,” said a statement.
Japan was one of the first countries to bring about radical land reforms which resulted in small holdings which in turn, compelled heavy reliance on technology to boost productivity. With passage of time, even as Japan underwent unprecedented industrialization, agriculture too underwent profound changes and came to be treated as an industry.
In India too, especially in Andhra Pradesh, land reforms have resulted in large small and medium-size farm holders. However, unlike Japan, India could not achieve such massive industrialization and development of technologies. A great majority of Indian population is still dependent on agriculture for its subsistence and application of modern technologies has been less intense. The market reforms since the early 1990s and high economic growth rates are impacting the Indian economy in a big way. The crisis the Indian agriculture is confronting is duly recognized and enormous attention is paid to address the problems farmers are facing by the government.
“Unfortunately, despite tremendous opportunities for cooperation, surprisingly there has been very little interaction and collaboration between India and Japan in this regard. The dialogue will help bridge the gap,” said a statement from the organisers.
The JNU-Japan Alumni Association (JJA) is a “non-profit” organization, comprising volunteers based in Japan and India with the objective to promote Japan-India relations across a wide spectrum of areas, including conducting a dialogue and discussion on issues of mutual interest and concerns of global significance.

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Event Details:
Date: 04/12/09; Time:1000 hrs
Venue: Cross Pal, Niigata City
Key Note Speaker, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Honb’le Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly
Composition of Indian Team
1. Mr.Kiran Kumar Reddy, Honb’le Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly
2. Mr. P. Keshav, Andhra Pradesh provincial Legislative Assembly member.
3. Prof. Raghava Reddy, Vice Chancellor, N.G. Ranga Agricultural University.
4. Dr. Sam Rao , Former Vice President, R & D at ConAgra Trading & Processing Cos ( NE, USA)
5. Prof G V C Naidu, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
6. Mr. Ramanujam, IAS, Minister, Economic Affairs, Indian Embassy
7. Indian Industry Representative (TBD)

Speakers from the Japanese Side:
1. Mr Hiroshi Hirabayashi, Former Japanese Ambassador to India
2. Prof. Takashi Inoguchi, President, Niigata Prefectural University
3. Mr. Nonaka, Director, Head of Agriculture , Forestry and Fisheries Department, City of Niigata
4. Dr. Ohyama ,Head of Agricultural Department, Niigata University
5. Representative from Yanmar Group, Japan (Agricultural Engineering Company)
6. Mr. Hara, Director, South Asia, Japan International Cooperation Agency.
7. Mr.Kishida , President, The Noki Shinbun, Japan
8. Mr. Ito, Japan External Trade and Research Organization

Language: Japanese & English;
Admission: Free
Organizer: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Japan Alumni Association,
Indo-biz Support (NPO)

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