Kazakhstan committed to extensive cooperation with India: Envoy

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SME Times News Bureau | 05 Dec, 2011
Kazakhstan can become our largest partner in agricultural production sphere, said Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan Ashok Kumar Sharma. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Kazakhstan Ashok Kumar Sharma told about some prospects of Kazakh-Indian cooperation in an interview for Kazinform.

Excerpts of the interview...

Recently you have held talks with KazAgroInnovation JSC on agricultural cooperation. What are the most interesting products for Indian companies?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: India suffers shortage of vegetable oil. Our country has a very large population. But there are not enough farmlands. Therefore, many Indian companies are engaged in agricultural cultivation of oil crops outside the country. Particularly, due to the lack of vegetable oil we have to import a large quantity of palm oil from Malaysia. But as you know, consumer-quality of sunflower oil is higher than of palm oil. So our government and private companies are seeking opportunities for production and import of sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.

There are good prospects for cooperation with Kazakh agricultural producers. We can establish joint ventures for production of sunflower, canola and soybeans, as well as vegetable oil from these crops.

What is needed for it?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: First of all it is needed to develop specific models for doing business. For example, in India there is no corporate agriculture. In order to protect the rights of small farmers, the government limits the large companies' opportunities for participation in the agricultural business. Most farmers have small plots of land.

In Kazakhstan, on the contrary, agricultural companies operate on very large areas. Therefore, there is an opportunity for big Indian companies to participate in the agribusiness. We propose the following scheme: if there are large local companies interested in producing oilseeds, the Indian companies could take over the funding of specific projects, in particular, on the cultivation of sunflower.

I would like to note that, given the unique location, your country has a chance to become the largest exporter of vegetable oil to China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. In these countries there is high demand for such products.

Will the Indian companies be able to render assistance to the Kazakh agrarians in the scientific-methods plan?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: I think, they will. The agronomic science is developed very well in India. The country has about 50 agrarian universities. There is a state organization - the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, at the disposal of which there are more than 100 scientific-research establishments throughout country. They work in different directions, on various crops, in accordance with climatic and natural conditions of their regions.
To help you judge the level of development of the agricultural science and production in our country, I will cite you one example. When the population of India numbered 480 million people in 1965, we could not fully provide ourselves with food - the agricultural sector was backward. We imported wheat and rice from other countries, including within the US humanitarian program "PL-480". In those conditions western countries, including the USA, could dictate us the rules on agricultural production. Within four years after the Indian government started to implement a state program called "Green Revolution", our country has fully provide itself with basic foodstuffs. Now the Indian population increased threefold, it reached 1.220 billion people. We are not only independent in the regard to food, but export a number of products as well. India became the largest manufacturer of cereals, milk and vegetables in the world. And all this is thanks to the Green Revolution program, which is implemented up to the present day. Billions of dollars is allocated annually for scientific researches in the agriculture sphere.

What technologies and technique does India use in the agriculture?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: Our country conducts all research works in the field of agriculture taking into account natural and climatic charasteristics, including in various regions. Initially, we borrowed agricultural technologies, primarily from the countries of Western Europe as well as the USA and Mexico. Later we had to develop own technologies, in the connection with the fact that, as I said earlier, we have lack of large land resources. Thanks to introduction of new technologies most of our farmers harvest three times a year. During production of agricultural products there are widely used hand work and buffaloes - as a draft power. Some states use technique - tractors and combines.
Mostly, this technique is of the Indian production. India is one of the largest exporters of tractors in the world. Our tractors are exported to countries of the West, including the USA. Our companies produce a lot of models of agricultural equipment.

It is known, that the chemical industry, including on production of fertilizers and herbicides, is well developed in India. Are there some plans on development of cooperation in this sphere?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: A special agrochemical delegation from India has come to Kazakhstan in July this year. I can say that the Kazakh side expressed great interest to import of chemical production from India as well as creation of joint Kazakh-Indian chemical ventures in Kazakhstan.

How alternative energy is developed in India? What measures of state support are taken for its development?
Ashok Kumar Sharma: I can say that our country pays special attention to development of alternative energy. We widely use wind generators. Solar power successfully develops. It is necessary to note that at the beginning when these technologies have been introduced, they were not effective and this sector was not attractive in the investment context. But the country rendered support. Hence businessmen invested in this sector. Now the situation has changed, alternative energy became attractive for business.

Thank you for the interview.