In a recent development, India and Brazil have signed a tripartite MOU to advance dairy cattle and buffalo genomics through a first-of-its-kind cross-continental genetic improvement program.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) and corresponding technical cooperation project (PCT) were signed at the Embassy of India in Brasília between Embrapa, Brazil’s state-owned agricultural research entity under the Ministry of agriculture, livestock, and food supply, MAPA, Brazil, Fazenda Floresta & DNAMark, Brazil, and Leads Genetics, (formerly Leads Agri Genetics), BL Kamdhenu Farms and Leads Connect Services, India.
The agreement marks the first-of-its-kind B2G collaboration between the two countries in bovine genomics, marking Embrapa’s first private partnership with a private organization in India, reflecting a strategic convergence of livestock & agricultural innovation, food security priorities, and shared global leadership in cattle genetics.
The MOU was signed in the presence of Dinesh Bhatia, ambassador of India to Brazil, Silvia Massruhá, president,; Jose Luiz Bellini Leite, general head Embrapa Dairy Cattle along with heads and senior scientific leadership including Marcos Vinicius Barbosa da Silva, Rogério Antonio Furtado Barros, Navneet Ravikar, director, Leads Genetics; Roberta Bertin Barros, director, Fazenda Floresta, Amarpreet Singh Sidhu and distinguished guests from the diplomatic and scientific communities.
The agreement aims to establish a cattle and buffalo genomics laboratory in India, combining Brazil’s world-leading genetic technologies with India’s vast dairy ecosystem, indigenous breeds, and rapidly modernizing agri-tech and dairy-tech infrastructure. The collaboration will focus on improving key cattle and buffalo species—Bos indicus, Bos taurus, and Bubalus bubalis—to significantly enhance milk production, reproductive efficiency, and climate resilience across India.
India stands to gain significantly from this Indo–Brazil collaboration, with the transformation beginning in Uttar Pradesh—India’s largest milk-producing state. By introducing advanced tropical dairy genetics, climate-resilient species, and cutting-edge genomic research, the partnership will enhance livestock productivity and strengthen national scientific capabilities.
Starting this initiative from UP ensures that the benefits reach one of India’s most critical dairy regions first—improving farmer incomes, supporting rural livelihoods, and accelerating the state’s dairy modernization agenda, before the model is replicated across the other states of the country and beyond.
Dinesh Bhatia, ambassador of India to Brazil said, “This initiative represents the finest spirit of India–Brazil cooperation—innovative, inclusive, and globally relevant. By linking the capabilities of our scientific institutions and private sector pioneers, we are shaping a future of sustainable growth for millions of farmers.”
Silvia Massruhá, a seasoned agri-tech visionary and president of Embrapa, said, “This collaboration embodies Embrapa’s commitment to scientific cooperation for global good. By combining Brazil’s advances in genomics with India’s enormous livestock ecosystem, we are creating a shared innovation platform that will benefit farmers, researchers, and the dairy economy in both nations.”
Navneet Ravikar, an innovation-led agribusiness leader and director of Leads Genetics, stated, “Our partnership with Embrapa and Fazenda Floresta marks a turning point in India’s journey toward scientific, data-driven cattle improvement. Over the next decade, this program will transform both elite and community-level breeding, empowering rural livelihoods and positioning India as a leader in sustainable dairy genetics. With this MoU, we are not only improving cattle genetics—we are shaping a new Indo–Brazil innovation corridor, empowering farmers, driving scientific excellence, and establishing India as a global hub for tropical dairy genetics.”
Roberta Bertin Barros, a pioneering force in sustainable dairy excellence and director of Fazenda Floresta, added, “Brazil and India share a natural synergy in dairy genetics. For over two years, we have worked closely with our Indian partners to bring Brazil’s genetic excellence to India. Today’s MoU strengthens this commitment, enabling the scaling of advanced technologies and fostering long-term collaboration between our nations.”
The collaboration brings together complementary strengths, Embrapa and Embrapa Dairy Cattle (Embrapa Gado de Leite), Brazil’s apex agricultural research organization, Fazenda Floresta and DNAMark, a Brazilian leader in bovine genetics, and India’s BL and Leads Group ecosystem (Leads Genetics, LeadsConnect, and B.L. Kamdhenu Farms India).
The collaboration will anchor its work at B.L. Kamdhenu Farms’ 10,000-head integrated model dairy farm in Bareilly, which is evolving into a multi-location Centre of Excellence (CoE) for indigenous cattle genetics and circular dairy economy, supported by genomics labs, IVF facilities, and farmer networks.
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Naresh Khanna – 10 February 2025
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