Improving Indian Agriculture Focus of New UADA Partnership

By John Lovett

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture recently entered a five-year agreement with the Indian National Horticulture Board and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to help farmers in India improve agricultural production by limiting spread of pathogens.

India is one of the world’s largest producers of fruits and vegetables, but a lack of disease-free propagation material has limited the yield potential of the nation’s mostly small-scale farmers.

Ioannis Tzanetakis, director of the Arkansas Clean Plant Center and professor of plant virology for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been working on the Indian Clean Plant Program for almost three years. The project’s goal is to establish nine clean plant centers in India.

The Arkansas Clean Plant Center is a part of the experiment station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture. As part of the memorandum of cooperation signed Nov. 18 between the Indian government agencies and the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees on behalf of the Division of Agriculture, the Arkansas Clean Plant Center in Fayetteville will host scientists from India for the training needed to develop the Indian Clean Plant Program.

The partnership is focused on training advanced diagnostic methods, virus elimination and implementation of science-based certification systems, Tzanetakis noted. Indian scientists will work with the Arkansas Clean Plant Center’s team to gain practical experience in clean plant operations, from testing to greenhouse management and disease elimination protocols.

“I’m proud of this collaboration with India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which represents a major step forward in our shared commitment to plant health and sustainable agriculture,” Tzanetakis said. “These exchanges will not only strengthen our respective programs but also build lasting partnerships that enhance global agricultural biosecurity, something that I have worked on in the better part of my career.”

Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said the partnership fits into the university system’s land-grant mission of performing public service by enhancing global agricultural biosecurity for one of the United States’s largest trading partners. The project will help decrease pesticide use and improve both environmental and economic sustainability for India’s mostly small-scale farmers.

Expanding international relationships is also a key part of the Division of Agriculture’s strategic plan.

“This partnership strengthens a long-lasting relationship with India and the United States,” Meullenet said. “We look forward to the many positive benefits that will come from the Indian Clean Plant Program.”