• Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended the 15th BRICS Agriculture Ministers Meeting (AMM) held on April 17 in Brasilia, Brazil.

• The theme of 15th BRICS AMM was “Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Agriculture through Cooperation, Innovation, and Equitable Trade among BRICS Countries”.

• As chair of the BRICS bloc in 2025, Brazil is promoting agriculture as a key driver of sustainable development and a platform for building joint solutions that balance economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental preservation.

• The event brought together agriculture ministers and leaders from the 11 member countries, who approved and signed a joint declaration reaffirming their commitment to sustainable agricultural development, food security, and reducing inequalities in rural areas.

• The BRICS countries are key players in world food production and, as such, play a critical role in enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability, and ensuring global food security and nutrition. 

• The group comprises approximately 59 per cent of the world's population, 33 per cent of agricultural land, and 39 per cent of freshwater resources. 

• It also represents 42 per cent of agricultural production, 61.6 per cent of fish production (24.7 per cent of capture fisheries, and 75.3 per cent of total aquaculture). 

• Some of its members are global leading producers and exporters of major agricultural, aquatic and livestock products. 

• Together, they account for 75 per cent of global agricultural production and are home to roughly half of the world’s 55 crore family farms — many of which are run by small-scale producers.

• Focussed on food security, sustainability, and facilitating international agricultural trade, the document approved by the ministers represents a landmark for global agriculture, establishing clear guidelines for the 2025-2028 period.

Key points of the declaration:

• It proposes the establishment of a structured financing mechanism, potentially involving international organisations, to support projects focused on soil conservation and the restoration of degraded areas such as mangroves, riverbanks, floodplains, and wetlands. 

• Priority actions include correcting soil acidity, controlling salinisation, and investing in research, infrastructure, and technical assistance for agricultural workers and rural landowners. 

• To support the adoption of these practices, the document highlights the launch of the BRICS Partnership for Land Restoration, in alignment with the framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

• The BRICS Partnership for Land Restoration will serve as a catalyst for transformative action in soil conservation and land restoration, ensuring long term socio-economic and environmental benefits, strengthening food and energy security, and promoting sustainable rural development. 

• Among the strategic items included in the joint declaration is the promotion of partnerships among Global South countries aimed at producing machinery and equipment tailored to family farming. 

• Family farming has the potential to combine agroecology, sustainable natural resource management, and the conservation of biodiversity by traditional populations

• The document addressed the promotion of women’s participation in the agricultural sector, noting that women in rural areas are more vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition than men. Empowering women and reducing gender disparities in agriculture and food systems are essential for eradicating hunger, malnutrition, and poverty, as well as achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.

• The declaration also focuses on facilitating international agricultural trade, intending to reduce unnecessary barriers, promote transparency, and enable the exchange of agricultural and livestock products among member countries. It also proposes the adoption of digital certification to reduce bureaucracy, mitigate the risk of fraud, prevent falsification, and improve traceability.

• Another commitment is the potential establishment of a mechanism to facilitate financing for food imports within BRICS, as a means of providing emergency financial relief to low and middle-income countries affected by rising costs of food and other essential inputs, such as fertilizers and energy.

The BRICS nations

• The BRICS nations or Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa form the key pillars of south-south cooperation and are the representative voice of emerging markets and developing countries in the global forums such as the G20.

• The grouping has become a 11-nation body now with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia joining it as new members.

• The acronym BRIC was first used in 2001 by Goldman Sachs in their Global Economics Paper, ‘The World Needs Better Economic BRICs’ on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and would be amongst the world’s largest economies in the next 50 years or so.

• The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in July 2006. Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, the group was formalised as BRIC during the First BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City.

• After a series of high level meetings, the first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia on June 16, 2009.

• It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers meeting in New York in September 2010. Accordingly, South Africa attended the third BRICS Summit in Sanya on April 14, 2011. 

• In 2014, the BRICS nations established the New Development Bank (NDB). It has an initial authorised capital of $100 billion and initial subscribed capital of $50 billion of which $10 billion is paid-in capital.

Expansion of BRICS

• BRICS leaders have left the door open to future enlargement as dozens more countries voiced interest in joining a grouping.

• Around 40 countries had shown interest in joining BRICS out of which 23 formally applied for the membership.

• In August 2023, the top BRICS leaders at the grouping’s summit in Johannesburg approved a proposal to admit six countries, including Argentina, into the bloc with effect from January 1, 2024. However, Argentina’s President Javier Milei announced withdrawing his country from becoming a member of the BRICS.

• The decision to expand the bloc is seen as an effort to reshape global governance while putting the voices of the Global South as a key priority area to advance the overall development agenda.

• Brazil assumed the presidency of BRICS on January 1, 2025.

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