Today, the President of the United States of America Barack Obama visited the Agriculture and Food Security Expo organized by CII and USAID at St Xaviers College, Mumbai.
The Expo showcased innovative technologies developed through Indo-US cooperation that have touched the lives of millions of farmers in India.   The exhibiting companies included Mahindra & Mahindra; Pepsico; Aries Agro; Pioneer-Dupont; Digital Green; IFFCO-Airtel; Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering, Bhopal; ITC; Jain Irrigation Systems and Ingersoll Rand.
The highlight of the Expo was the launching of the CII Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (CII-FACE).  CII-FACE shall be dedicated to building efficiencies across the agriculture value chain from farm to fork and improving food security.
CII-FACE will work with farmers, companies, institutions and NGOs to bring about a quantum jump in agricultural production and productivity, enhance economic value addition, act as an information hub for sharing of global best practices,  and undertake research across key segments in the Agriculture sector.
With technical support from USAID, the CII-FACE will endeavor to adapt  and apply global best practices as well as information systems and technology to the Indian market, thereby, positioning itself as the  Premier Knowledge Hub in the field of Food & Agriculture in India.
Prior to this, a Roundtable was held at the same venue to discuss the importance of innovative practices in enhancing agricultural productivity through Indo-US Cooperation which was attended by secretary Thomas J Vilsack, US Department of Agriculture; Dr Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID and a group of Indian CEOs, NGOs and some farmer groups.
Mumbai