Mumbai: Yes Bank, has tied up Wageningen University Research Centre's international knowledge institute Alterra, to introduce Wageningen's Agrofood Park model in India. The agrofood park model integrates high-tech agro production, processing and efficient, environment friendly logistics.

The agropark concept pioneered by Alterra has been widely deployed in the Wujin province of China with the support of the Chinese government. The Wujin Agrofood Park has attracted significant interest amongst investors, with entrepreneurs from both the Netherlands and China having come forward to invest in it.

Chairmen of a number of Indian nationalised banks, currently in Amsterdam, were present for the MoU signing ceremony. These bank chiefs are in the Netherlands as part of a combined Yes Bank-Indian Bank's Association delegation to study agri-infrastructure financing and cooperative banking projects in the region.
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The alliance is aimed at spreading awareness of the integrated Agrofood park concept amongst key stakeholders in the government as wells as corporate sector. Specifically, it will help the Indian agri-business companies to access state-of-the-art crop management practices as well as technologies across the agri value chain rom cultivation to processing and marketing.

The two organisations will jointly host workshops in in India for the agrifood industry, union and state government agencies as well as institutions. Alterra is the main centre of expertise on the green environment in the NEtherlands. It provides innovative and interdisciplinary research on problems related to agriculture in urban and rural areas and conducts strategic and applied research to support local, national and international design processes, policymaking and management.