Punjab CM seeks German support for sustainable development of agri-food
Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Sep, 2022 11:58 AM
Berlin, Sep 16 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday sought support of the German Agribusiness Alliance for sustainable development of the agri-food sector to benefit farmers in the state.
German Agribusiness Alliance (GAA) is a business initiative of leading associations and companies in the agri-food sector.
Mann said that the expertise of alliance and its member companies include BASF, Bayer, BayWA, CLAAS, John Deere, VDMA, Covestro, GIZ, ECOCERT Group and EKOSEM-AGRAR could be very useful for the food growers in the state.
During deliberations, the Chief Minister envisaged opportunities for mutual collaboration in business and solutions. He said that the alliance could provide on-field handholding to Punjab farmers in best practices of crop management.
Inviting Germany Agribusinesses to the state, Mann said that the Green Revolution led by Punjab has not only made India self-sufficient in agri production but also a world leader in various commodities.
The Chief Minister added that the state is a leader in cereal production and one of the largest milk producers in India and has state-of-the-art export facilities. He said that the strong infrastructure of the state has made it the preferred investment destination for leading MNCs like Nestle, Danone, Pepsico, Coca Cola, Unilever and Godrej.
The Chief Minister has also asked leading German company Verbio group to explore future collaboration opportunities with the state in the renewable energy sector.
The Chief Minister further said that the Verbio Group has strong association with state as its Indian subsidiary, Verbio India Private Ltd. has recently commissioned one of the largest biofuel (biomethane/bio-CNG) production units in India with 33 TPD (tons per day) of capacity in Sangrur.
He said that the plant will produce biogas by anaerobic digestion process and is a great way to solve the problem of stubble burning.
The non-recognition of the Covishield vaccine has impacted the Indians, especially students travelling to the UK. This issue was flagged during the meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar and UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday in Washington DC.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
