8th International Training on “In Vitro and Cryopreservation Approaches for Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources” inaugurated

5^th November, 2019, New Delhi

Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Education), ICAR; National Director, National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) & Registrar General, Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), India inaugurated the 15 day-long “8^th International Training Course on In Vitro and Cryopreservation Approaches for Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources” today.

The programme is jointly organized by the ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR); Bioversity International and Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology and Bioresources (APCoAB), a programme of the Asia-Pacific Association for Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI), Bangkok at the ICAR-NBPGR, New Delhi from 5^th to 19^th November, 2019.

Dr. Agrawal emphasized that the transformation in the living standards of any society are directly correlated with their level of education. Accentuating on the need of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by all the nations, he highlighted the role plant genetic resource management and its overall impact on the agricultural development.

He urged the participants for keeping in mind the farmers’ role in well-being humanity as providers of food and nutritional security to one and all.

The Guest of Honor, Dr. D.K. Yadav, ADG (Seed), ICAR briefed about the ICAR’s important role in the field of research, teaching and capacity building through the organization of such training. He emphasized that the ICAR-NBPGR is a designated Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Training in the areas of in vitro conservation and cryopreservation of difficult to conserve crops.

Dr R.K. Tyagi, Coordinator, APCoAB, APAARI, Thailand on behalf of APAARI in co-organizing the training accentuated that training would be a great learning experience for the trainees as the international faculty involved in this training are the most experienced ones in the field of in vitro conservation and cryobiotechnology. He encouraged the trainees for utilizing the training as an opportunity for future collaborations.

Dr J.C. Rana, National Coordinator, UN-GEF Project, Bioversity International-India appreciated the efforts on part of ICAR and NBPGR, in organization of this training, which is a part of work plan between ICAR-and Bioversity international. He appreciated the efforts made by NBPGR for organizing the training, despite a few constraints along the way. He spoke on the importance of PGR in general, with special reference to the niche crops central to the theme of this training.

Dr. S.C. Dubey, Director, ICAR-NBPGR stressed on the importance of such training for the effective germplasm handling and conservation. He applauded the international training conducted under the CoE programme by the Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation Unit (TCCU) of ICAR-NBPGR on in vitro conservation and cryopreservation of PGR on a regular basis for enhancing the capacity of national programmes, especially, in the developing countries.

(Source: ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi)