‘India’s use of digital tools to support farmers interests the Netherlands’

“The way smartphones, software and artificial intelligence are being used in India to help farmers improve productivity is something the Netherlands can learn from,” Silvio Erkens, the Netherlands Minister for Food Security, Fisheries and Horticulture, said on Thursday.

Mr. Erkens said India’s experience of using digital tools to support its large number of smallholder farmers was interesting to the Netherlands. “It’s something Netherlands is also looking at, something we can maybe learn from you (India),” he said in an interaction with The Hindu.

Mr. Erkens was in Bengaluru with a delegation of 18 Dutch businesses and organisations to explore opportunities for collaboration in horticulture, seed technology, water management and sustainable food production.

The Minister said India and the Netherlands were “natural partners” in agriculture, with the two countries bringing different strengths to the sector. “While the Netherlands is a small country with a population of 18 million, it is the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural goods after the United States,” he said, noting that India, on the other hand, produces agricultural goods on a much larger scale and is looking to innovate.

“Bringing us two together, I think, is a big opportunity from both sides that we can both win from, that can increase farmer income and yields here,” he said.

Climate-resilient seeds

While discussing the areas where the two countries could work together, Mr. Erkens pointed to water management as one of the immediate priorities, noting that the Netherlands had experienced an unusually dry summer this year.

He outlined three areas of focus: storing rainwater through horticultural systems, using precision irrigation and monitoring technologies, and developing seeds that can withstand longer dry periods. “Technologies such as drip irrigation, combined with artificial intelligence and monitoring systems could help provide a plant with only the amount of water it needs at the right time,” he said.

The other priority was to work with the seed sectors in both countries to develop varieties that are more resistant to dry spells and climate change, he added.

“We really need to speed up the innovation in that cycle, because I think if you look at climate change, it’s speeding up as well, and we don’t have 10 to 15 years, which are the normal production cycles for new seeds,” he said.

India-Netherlands seed cooperation

On seed cooperation, Mr. Erkens said discussions were under way with the Union government as well as States like Maharashtra on intensifying collaboration in the coming months. The India-Netherlands Seed Forum, which brings together Dutch and Indian seed companies, was also meeting regularly to push the cooperation further, he said.

Tariffs remain a barrier

Asked about the barriers to greater India-Netherlands cooperation, Mr. Erkens said tariffs had been a problem in the past, though non-tariff barriers had also affected collaboration.

He said the proposed India-EU free trade agreement, once in effect, could help address some of the tariff-related barriers. Discussions with the Indian government had also indicated an openness to greater cooperation, he said. “The discussions have been very positive. I think there’s really an openness on the side of India to collaborate more with the Netherlands as well,” he said.