The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing technical assistance to India in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of India (GOI).

India Distribution Reform and Alternative Financing Project — Rural Utility Assistance: In September 2004, USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) began working with the Indian Rural Electrification Commission on a 5 year, $1 million USAID-funded project to establish alternative financing mechanisms for rural electrification, improve their capacity to assess and monitor utility operations, develop electric cooperatives and municipal utilities, and support the Indian Government's new initiative: to provide reliable and sustainable electricity supply to all rural households by 2010. The Alternative Financing project is under a larger USAID Energy project known as Distribution Reform, Upgrades and Management or DRUM.

Strengthening India’s Agricultural Marketing System: Under the Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI), this 3-year, $850,000 project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The implementing partners are USDA and the National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), an autonomous entity under the Indian Ministry of Agriculture, are providing technical assistance to strengthen India’s agricultural marketing system. This is an important project, given India’s commitment to the WTO, agribusiness development, and the speedy commercialization of their agricultural sector. The USDA agencies that work closely with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) on this essential project are primarily the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

U.S.-India Knowledge Initiative

More photos from India:

Dali Mandi pea auction	Packaged and similar colored grapes add value
Tomatoes sorted by color	Tomatoes not sorted by color
Market prices recorded