{"id":41623,"date":"2025-04-19T20:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=41623"},"modified":"2025-04-19T20:04:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:34:29","slug":"15th-meeting-brics-agriculture-ministers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-04-2025\/15th-meeting-brics-agriculture-ministers","title":{"rendered":"15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive, equitable and sustainable agriculture at the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers in Brasilia, Brazil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>BRICS Agriculture Ministers launched the <strong>BRICS Land Restoration Partnership<\/strong> to address land degradation, desertification, and the loss of soil fertility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In the Joint Declaration<\/strong>, BRICS nations collectively reiterated their resolve to make the global agri-food system fair, inclusive, innovative, and sustainable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Stand: Empowering the Backbone of Agriculture<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India highlighted the need to <strong>socially, economically and politically empower<\/strong> small and marginal farmers, especially women, at the center of global agricultural strategies.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The world\u2019s <strong>510 million smallholder farmers<\/strong> are the backbone of the global food system and are also the most vulnerable in the face of climate change, price volatility, and resource scarcity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Sustainable Agriculture?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sustainable agriculture refers to farming practices that <strong>meet today\u2019s food needs while preserving resources for future generations.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This means adopting methods that protect the environment, reduce reliance on chemical inputs, and use water and land efficiently.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This approach is designed to maintain a <strong>balance between productivity, environmental health, and socio-economic equity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Need of Sustainable Agriculture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Over-dependence on Rainfall:<\/strong> Indian agriculture is largely rain-fed, with around 60% of the cultivated area depending on monsoon rains.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agricultural Price Volatility:<\/strong> Price volatility forces farmers to sell their produce at low prices during peak harvest seasons.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited agricultural processing capacity and low levels of mechanization<\/strong> leads to post-harvest losses. Farmers are also unable to add value to their produce, leading to lower returns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Access to Finance: <\/strong>Small farmers face difficulties in accessing credit and financial services.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Initiatives taken for sustainable agriculture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs):<\/strong> FPOs have emerged as a key tool to support small and marginal farmers by aggregating their produce, providing access to technology, and improving their market presence.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Warehouse Receipt Financing:<\/strong> Warehouse receipt financing allows farmers to store their produce and sell it later when prices are more favorable.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) <\/strong>focuses on promoting climate-resilient farming, efficient water use, and soil health management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)<\/strong> strengthens agricultural resilience through climate-focused research, technology demonstration, and capacity building.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bio-fertilizers<\/strong> are promoted to reduce chemical usage and enhance soil microbial health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers&#8217; Meeting marks a collective step towards redefining the global food system\u2014making it more just, resilient, and farmer-centric.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For India, the summit reaffirmed the vision of an agriculture-led inclusive growth model, placing smallholder farmers and sustainability at the heart of policymaking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>What is BRICS?<\/strong><br>&#8211; It is an acronym that refers to a group of five major emerging national economies: <strong>Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.\u00a0<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Origin: <\/strong>The term <strong>BRIC <\/strong>was coined by <strong>British economist Jim O&#8217;Neill<\/strong> in <strong>2001<\/strong> to represent emerging economies.\u00a0<br>1. The group began holding annual meetings starting in <strong>2006<\/strong> on the sidelines of the <strong>UN General Assembly (UNGA),<\/strong> and its success led to formal summits.<br>2. BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits since <strong>2009.<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>South Africa <\/strong>was inducted in <strong>2010.<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Expansion of BRICS:<\/strong> <strong>Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE <\/strong>are the six new additions to the BRICS.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsonair.gov.in\/india-reaffirms-commitment-to-inclusive-equitable-sustainable-agriculture-at-15th-meeting-of-brics-agriculture-ministers\/#:~:text=Speaking%20at%20t\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>AIR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India reaffirmed its commitment to inclusive, equitable and sustainable agriculture at the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers in Brasilia, Brazil.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Key Highlights<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">BRICS Agriculture Ministers launched the BRICS Land Restoration Partnership to address land degradation, desertification, and the loss of soil fertility.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">In the Joint Declaration, BRICS nations collectively reiterated their resolve to make the global agri-food system fair, inclusive, innovative, and sustainable.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-04-2025\/15th-meeting-brics-agriculture-ministers\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41623"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41634,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41623\/revisions\/41634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}