ICRISAT: 'Africa will emerge as world's granary'

With the increasing population Africa will serve the food needs of the world in future, in which, India will also play a major role, scientist Dr Kiran K Sharma said in Hyderabad on Friday. Sharma, Principal Scientist and Director of Translational platform for transgenic crops ICRISAT said was speaking on the occasion of the second edition of the Indo-African economic mission organised jointly by the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Hyderabad and EMRC International. 'Africa will emerge as the granary of humanity in future and will supply the food to the world as vast expanses of lands remain virgin and unused. Presently, there is hardly any productivity, the farmers are illiterate and there are no quality seeds fertilisers available there and it also lacks in technology, pti reported. In view of this, Africa has huge potentials as such Indian teams will collaborate with Africa to develop agriculture,' he said. 'Indian teams, in collaboration with Africa will set up five incubation centers in Africa, which will help farmers in increasing their productivity.Once the productivity is increased and the lands are put to use, Africa will emerge as the granary of the world,' he said. In India, there are 11 technology incubation centers, highest anywhere in the world. In Hyderabad, one such incubation center is based at ICRISAT, he added.