India, Thailand to work together on agricultural informatics

BANGKOK, January 15 (TNA) - India and Thailand, through the Indian National Informatics Center (NIC) and the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, have agreed to work together on the exchange of the advanced agricultural informatics for mutual benefits and for the further development of the Thai farm sector. New Thai Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Krisada Boonraj (กฤษฏา บุญราช) told journalists on January 15 that the agreement was the result of his talks with authorities of the Indian NIC on the sidelines of the 4th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AIMMAF), held in New Delhi on January 12. "The Indian NIC has expertise in the design of projects and software of informatics, as well as in the development and the utilization of the e-governance, especially those on food and agriculture, fauna species, fishery, forestry and the environment. So, the agreement on the exchange of informatics will be beneficial to the Thai farm sector in terms of more precise data", Krisada explained. Krisada noted that both sides have agreed on assigning relevant parties to further discuss on the cooperation in details, covering plans on exchange visits of Indian and Thai agricultural experts, joint meetings or seminars on agricultural informatics and the application of indian technologies to Thai agricultural pilot projects. The Thai minister said the agreement was based on the fact that there are similarities in the Indian and the Thai agricultural sectors, namely most Indian and Thai farmers live in rural areas and major Indian and Thai farm products include rice, tapioca, rubber and sugarcane. Besides, the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives plans to develop its database, dubbed the "big data" program, under which information and data on local farmers will be systematically developed and integrated with all agencies in the ministry and those in all other ministries. (TNA)