International Conference on Rainfed Agriculture Inaugurated

29th January 2025, Hyderabad

The International Conference on Rainfed Agriculture: Building Pathways for Resilience & Sustainable Livelihoods was inaugurated by ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad in association with the Indian Society of Dryland Agriculture at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad today.

Dr Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) and Director General (ICAR) in his address congratulated the researchers of rainfed farming for enhancing productivity and bringing resilience to rainfed farming.  He emphasised the importance of dryland agriculture and climate resilience and its impact on national development also shared valuable insights and recent advancements in the field of dryland agriculture. Dr Pathak also accentuated that efforts needed to be made by the researchers to develop new extension methodologies that can still enhance the productivity and resilience of rainfed farming.

Dr S. K. Chaudhary, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management) emphasized the importance and need for the development of rainfed agriculture. He urged the delegates to come up with technologies, recommendations, and policy briefs that will help the farming community in overcoming the different stresses and problems being encountered in rainfed farming.

Dr V. K. Singh, Director, ICAR-CRIDA and President ISDA, briefed the importance of rainfed agriculture to the Indian economy and also informed that the main reason for organizing the conference is to bring the researchers, farmers, NGOs, policymakers, and private sector on the same platform so that the recommendations that are useful to the farming community can be made.

Dr Stanford Blade, Director General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, highlighted the institute’s work in dryland agriculture and reviewed the collaboration between ICRISAT and ICAR-CRIDA.

Dr JVNS Prasad, Project Coordinator, AICRPDA, and Secretary, ISDA, briefed about the conference and its objectives.

Following the inauguration, the exhibition stall was unveiled, and the dignitaries released a compendium containing extended summaries of the conference as well as other related publications.

More than 750 delegates across different countries, farmers, NGO officials, and officials of the private sector dealing with various agricultural inputs participated in the inaugural function.

(Source: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad)