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Thirteen African countries have signed various partnership agreements with India to enhance the supply of agricultural machinery, credit advancement to farmers, and scientific cooperation, according to a statement by the African Development Bank on Monday.

The partnerships were signed when African ministers of agriculture, private sector associations, and industry representatives from India and Africa converged for crucial sessions of deal-making during the 52nd session of the AfDB Annual Meetings in Gujarat, India on May 24, 2017.

Under the partnerships, Gujarat farm machinery suppliers signed agreements with their counterparts in Ghana, Zambia, Mozambique and Togo to provide training in mechanized agriculture, and cooperation in the use of machinery in mining activities.

“We feel the areas identified for cooperation could raise agricultural productivity in Africa because these include our support to the Pan African University Institute of Life and Earth Sciences in Ibadan, Nigeria,” said Chimanbhai Dharamshibai Shaparia, the Gujarat State Minister of Agriculture. “We want to ensure that capacity building is given full priority. This opportunity is very rare. I am here to ensure that India-Africa cooperation reaches new heights.”

Shaparia also noted that Africa can feed the world. He said AfDB’s Feeding Africa initiative has pointed Africa's agriculture towards a specific direction, which is all about feeding the world.

The minister said India has offered to provide vaccines to enable West African countries deal with foot and mouth disease – which affects livestock production. He also said the Indian government was eager to advance cooperation through rapid expansion of agricultural trade between the Asian country and the African continent.

To ensure a trade balance, Shaparia said the Indian government is ready to accept imports of key cereals and grains from African producers. One key import from Africa is expected to be pigeon peas, he said.

According to Shaparia, the Indian government believes both Africa and India could exchange key commodities through trade – with India availing markets for millet produced from Africa, while the Asian country sells its wheat to the continent.

Since 2007, India-Africa trade has doubled to about $72 billion, far below the China-Africa trade of nearly $200 billion. India imports mainly raw materials from Africa: crude oil, gold, raw cotton and precious stones. On the other hand, Indian exports to Africa includes high-end consumer goods such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals and telecoms equipment.

In 2015, Prime Minister Nerandra Modi pledged to offer $10 billion in concessional credit to Africa over the next five years to support the India-African trade relationship.