Amaravathi: The Quality Council of India on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to provide technical support to empower agriculture and allied sectors at various levels and thereby enhance quality and farmers’ income.
The two entities forged the agreement at the Gunvatta Sankalp event held at Vijayawada in the presence of Agriculture Minister K Govardhan Reddy and senior officials.Our association with QCI started in April and a memorandum of understanding MoU was signed in the presence of the Chief Minister.
”Our association with QCI started in April and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in the presence of the Chief Minister. Today, again we are entering into a broad MoU to take the good work to the next level by infusing quality components in each and everything,” said Agriculture special secretary Gopal Krishna Dwivedi.
He noted that the southern state has identified some sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture and others in the interest of farmers to associate with the QCI.
Citing soil testing as one such activity, Dwivedi noted that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy always insists on farmers being able to get a soil test done on the lines of an individual getting a blood test.
He further said that agri-labs, marketing and several other wings associated with farming and farmers are to be improved upon involving the QCI to successfully cater to markets in Europe and the United States of America (USA).
According to Dwivedi, if the quality is emphasised then farmers, producers, industries and all others are going benefit, hence, QCI will be closely associated with from the stage of testing, dissemination of information, functioning of Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK), laboratories and all aspects.
QCI will offer expertise to develop a conformity assessment framework for the state’s agricultural sector, setting up clear quality standards to make sure best practices are followed in the entire value chain from farm to fork.
Providing training programmes, QCI will empower farmers, cooperatives, industry players and government officials to navigate the quality ecosystem, along with accreditation services. A Raj, chief executive, National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP), QCI observed that in the second phase of QCI’s association with Andhra Pradesh will involve sectors of healthcare, education, and others.
