A joint initiative plan in agriculture between Netherlands and India envisages setting up 10 Centres of Excellence across the country. This step has been taken with an aim to raise agriculture output and introduce modern farm technologies and techniques in the country. The work has already been started on three centres, one each in Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab and the work is expected to soon start in state of Karnataka.
The centre in Kerala and Maharashtra will be for horticulture, while in Punjab the centre of excellence will be for potatoes. For the remaining the six centres, the European nation is looking to set up the centres on dairy, horticulture, floriculture and others.
The Dutch Ambassador had called on Agriculture Minister in June this year and informed him about the developments made in the areas Indo-Dutch agriculture cooperation plan of dairying, post harvest management, including cold chain infrastructure and hi-tech agriculture.