Remarks by George Deikun, USAID India Mission Director at the Mango Festival, Pune

May 03, 2006

Good evening. Honorable Minister Patil, Dr. Kharche, distinguished guests and friends, I thank you for inviting me tonight for this event here in Pune. I hear that Pune is fondly referred to as the Oxford of the East, the cultural capital of Maharashtra and the heart land of Alphonso mango growing area. I am pleased to be here with you all this evening and am genuinely looking forward to the opportunity to taste this year’s HAAPUS or “Alphonso” mango.

The mango – or India’s “king of fruits” – is a good way for us to further build the relationship between the United States and India. As President Bush said in his recent visit to India, “the United States is looking forward to eating Indian mangos.” The relationship between our two countries has never been better. It is built on shared democratic values. Those values and our common interests are building stronger partnerships between our countries on many fronts, including agriculture. The Agricultural Knowledge Initiative -- a joint endeavor announced by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- is important for both of our countries. We hope that it will reinvigorate agricultural research through a number of joint projects.

The United States Agency for International Development in India has an association with India’s farmers going back to cooperation in research and the development of universities. Some of these efforts led to the Green Revolution and to self-sufficiency in food production. One of the nine state agriculture universities USAID helped to build in India in those days is Maharasthra’s Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth at Rahuri.

In recent decades India has progressed in agriculture production and international trade. The agricultural diversity of the country and its large labor force are key ingredients that position India to become a major player in international agricultural trade.

But why is Agriculture so critical to India’s economic success? Agriculture provides livelihoods to almost three fourths of the Indian population. Making it thrive is necessary to sustain India’s high level of economic growth and to reduce the number of people who live in poverty.

Eighteen months ago, USAID initiated the Partnership for Food Industries Development program. As a part of this activity Michigan State University works with local mango farmers in India to increase their incomes by improving mango marketing. We launched this effort because we believed that there were opportunities in Maharasthra to link farmer groups directly with processors, retailers and exporters. By improving everyone’s knowledge about changing market preferences and product requirements and by building marketing chains this program aims to benefit both producers and consumers alike.

We were fortunate to have a strong local partner in Pune for this effort -- the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). I understand that MSAMB has done pioneering work in the field of agricultural marketing and achieved notable success with the grape and wine industries in India. Through this activity we hope to add “mango marketing” to that list of successes.

Our work here has started with improving markets for fresh mangos. USAID is also looking for ways to help MSAMB and mango farmers access more profitable markets through processed products and to help improve efficiency on the farm.

We hope that the success achieved here and the linkages and partnerships that have developed will be duplicated in other important mango-producing states such as Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The vision is for an integrated national market and a major export push that puts India on the mango trade’s world map. We believe that public private partnerships such as this one here in Maharashtra will quicken the pace of progress in India and serve the interests of small farmers who are the backbone of this country.

Thank you.