Cornell University today (Nov. 3, 1998) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for an exchange of agricultural, nutritional and environmental information, as well as community and rural development knowledge.

Daryl B. Lund, dean of Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and R.S. Paroda, director-general of ICAR and secretary of India's Department of Agricultural Research and Education, signed the memorandum this afternoon in Lund's office.

"The food security issue is of great concern to people around the world. If you have starving people, you have potentially unstable conditions. The more serious the unstable conditions, the heavier the draw on world resources," says James E. Haldeman, director of Cornell's International Agricultural Program, which will be administering the agreement. "Using scientific resources to stave off potential problems is of great importance to us."

Cornell and ICAR will be promoting research, training and the improvement of production techniques through the exchange of faculty, scientists and technologists. There will also be an exchange of germplasm and breeding material, as well as of scientific literature, information and methodology.

India's population is estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau's research center to be 967.6 million, with the population increasing at the rate of about 1.6 percent annually. The average population density is 786 people to the square mile. By comparison, the United States has three times the land mass of India, yet has only about 28 percent of the population. The annual U.S. rate of population growth is about 0.6 percent, and the population density 78 per square mile.

Haldeman says that because India has so many people to feed, the New Delhi government is concerned about sustainable food systems. Even if rice and wheat crops remain constant, food resources are a problem for such a fast-growing population, he says.

In the coming months specific programs between Cornell and ICAR will be discussed with the aim of securing funding to carry out initiatives. Haldeman explains that while the focus of the agreement is on human resource development and joint research efforts, there is hope of developing a way to disseminate information among Indian agriculturists based on the Cornell Cooperative Extension model.

The Cornell agriculture college previously signed several memorandums with other countries, including China, Poland, Turkey, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Honduras.

"We have been eager to work with ICAR and I believe they have been eager to work with us," says Haldeman. "This kind of program helps Cornell attract top students and provide opportunities for faculty exchanges. It will also attract India's top researchers to interact with Cornell faculty to jointly address issues related to food security, and from a global perspective, the world cannot afford a country facing the potential of a food deficit."