The United States and India are partnering to improve people’s lives across Africa and Asia.
By teaching new farming techniques, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and India are helping farmers on both continents improve harvests. They are also partnering to bring medical innovations to Afghanistan.
USAID’s Feed the Future and other programs advance the June 2016 Indo-American agreement that identifies ending extreme poverty in Africa and Asia as a common interest. Already, a number of joint efforts have increased access to health care, education, water and sanitation.
- Through Feed the Future’s Triangular Training Program, USAID and India’s Ministry of Agriculture are teaching 1,500 farmers in 11 African and nine Asian countries new crop cultivation, harvesting and post-harvest techniques. Thousands of farmers will benefit over time.
- The Indo-African Innovation Bridge program has helped 3,000 villagers in Kenya and Malawi to conserve rain water, use improved seeds, prevent agricultural losses, and implement dairy management, food processing and marketing techniques. Some communities in Kenya have increased milk production by 50% and harvested millions of liters of additional rain water.
USAID also works to bring health care initiatives to Afghanistan that have proven successful in India.
The United States has organized meetings between policymakers and businesses in India and Afghanistan to improve health care in Afghanistan, including efforts to improve outcomes for tuberculosis patients.
These initiatives won’t be the last. As USAID observes, “With a great diversity of economies and cultures, Asia provides a myriad of opportunities for neighboring countries to share ideas, information and technologies across its borders.”
