ICAR Regional Committee Meeting at Jodhpur

13-14 September 2016, Jodhpur

ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur organised 24th meeting of the ICAR-Regional Committee No. VI for Rajasthan, Gujarat and Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Heveli.

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) emphasized the significance of the diversity in agro-climatic conditions, agriculture, livestock etc. in the region. He appreciated that despite being a low rainfall area, the region possesses a vast potential in sustainable development of agriculture and animal husbandry including fisheries. He further appreciated the efforts of ICAR Institutes and SAUs and urged for greater cooperation with State Departments.

Dr K Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Engineering) emphasized on the immense potential of solar energy in this region and appreciated the efforts of CAZRI in taking research on this aspect which needs to be up scaled. He said pressurized irrigation technologies need to be popularized due to scarce water conditions. 

Shri Sunil Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor (DARE/ICAR) urged that the scientific community along with State Government need to work jointly for addressing the problems faced by farmers of the region.

Members of ICAR Governing Body Shri S.K. Bhargava, Shri R.P. Singh and Shri Suresh Chandel participated and provided their valuable inputs in the meeting.

Earlier, Dr O.P. Yadav, Director CAZRI and Member Secretary, Regional Committee presented the Action Taken Report on the proceedings of the last meeting held at Anand (Gujarat) in 2014.

Dr. J.S. Sandhu, DDG (Crop Sciences), Dr. A.K. Singh, DDG (Agri. Ext. & Horticulture Sciences), Vice Chancellors from SAUs of Rajasthan and Gujarat, Directors of ICAR Institutes, Senior Officials from ICAR Headquarters and officers from line Departments of Gujarat and Rajasthan deliberated on various issues of regional concern.

During the two-day deliberations, various issues on Centre-State Coordination concerning agricultural research, extension and education were discussed and action points related to sustainable development of drought prone and fragile agro-ecologies of the region were finalized.

(Source: ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur)