India is one of the world’s largest agricultural producers of staple crops, fruits, horticulture, and dairy. Many of India’s agricultural successes emerged from its ability to develop and apply innovative, cost-effective solutions to farming challenges, such as low-cost tractors, seed systems, and water management technologies. USAID/India’s food and nutritional security and adaptation programs focus on sharing and transferring these innovations globally, in partnership with the Government of India, civil society organizations, and the private sector, to improve food security locally, regionally, and globally.

USAID/INDIA FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMS 

USAID/India’s food security programs support development innovations that improve the lives of the rural poor in India and work to extend innovations proven in India to other countries. These efforts reflect the transformation of the USAID-India relationship from a traditional donor-recipient one to a strategic peer-to-peer partnership whereby India and the U.S. collaborate to solve global development challenges together.

SHARING AND TRANSFERING AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION: By applying technological and institutional innovations, India has emerged as a leader in agriculture production. To test, adapt, share, and transfer these successful innovations outside of India, USAID/India partners with a diverse range of Indian and American private-sector stakeholders to address development challenges in Asia. Developing countries in Asia often have similar conditions for agricultural development that exist in India. For example, USAID works with the American non-profit International Development Enterprises (iDE) and Indian agro-companies to develop supply chains in Nepal to reach poor, smallholder farmers, including women, with agro-inputs and technologies that enhance productivity.  USAID/India supported the design and establishment of an independently operated, financially viable, South Asia AgTech Hub for Innovation (SAATHI) that is transferring agricultural innovations from India to Bangladesh and Nepal to address food and nutrition security challenges there.   

BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RESOURCE CAPACITY: Strong institutional capacity is vital for developing countries in Asia and Africa to sustain agricultural development. USAID has partnered with the Indian Ministry of Agriculture’s premier National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) to train  agricultural practitioners (farmers, processors, extension workers, and policymakers) from 11 African and 6 Asian countries in specialized farming practices to improve productivity and income. The trained professionals are applying their new knowledge in their respective organizations to improve their agricultural development and food and nutrition security programs.

SCALING INNOVATIONS TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN INDIA: In partnership with the Government of India, the private sector, and national and international agriculture research organizations, USAID is implementing resilience-building activities with vulnerable communities in the ecologically sensitive regions across India. USAID collaborated with India’s largest weather services company to expand its network of automatic weather stations in 9 of India's states. This initiative can now send reliable, localized weather data, risk mitigation tools, and crop insurance services by SMS to about 70,000 climate-vulnerable farmers. USAID partnered with Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) institutions to scale up its successful approach on Smart Villages to build adaptation skills in agriculture for poor farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. USAID has also partnered with WorldFish, the state government of Odisha and private companies to increase availability of affordable, safe, nutrient-rich fish and fish products through innovative technologies and approaches. The project improves nutrition and incomes in one of the most vulnerable ecologies in India. USAID is transferring this successful model to neighboring countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal.