The 24th meeting of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Regional Committee II comprising members from the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, commenced on Friday here.
The event is being organised by ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore in collaboration with ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar.
DARE and Director General, ICAR, New Delhi Secretary Dr T Mohapatra in his presidential address emphasised that the region offers tremendous scope and opportunities for multifaceted growth of agriculture sector, including animal husbandry, fisheries, horticulture, sericulture and others.
He stated that the country produces more than 280 million metric tonnes food grains despite the problems of climate change, loss of arable areas due to urbanisation and a host of other problems. A right mix of technological breakthroughs and policy support has made this happen, he added, and called for concerted efforts of ICAR, State agriculture universities (SAUs) and State Governments to ensure that doubling of farmers’ income becomes a reality. DDG (Fisheries Science and Animal Science) Dr JK Jena presented the background of RCM II and highlighted the major accomplishments of agricultural research and development in the region. Earlier in the day, Director, ICAR-CIFRI and Member Secretary of RCM II Dr BK Das welcomed the delegates. Special Secretary (DARE) and Secretary (ICAR) Chhabilendra Roul emphasised the need for paradigm shift in production system.
Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor (DARE/ICAR) Bimbardhar Pradhan stressed on connecting farmers with e-NAM. He also advocated for State specific interventions for tackling problems of climate change.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Principal Secretary Dr S Garg appreciated the close interaction with different stakeholders on agriculture research and development. Agriculture Production Commissioner GB Dhal highlighted the use of robotics, genomics and nanotechnology in agriculture.