MNS:- The third International Agronomy Congress on Agriculture Diversification, Climate Change Management and Livelihoods (26-30 November) was inaugurated here today.
The Indian Society of Agronomy and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research jointly organizes the 3rd International Agronomy Congress . The primary objective is to take stock of technology capital available to address the issue of agriculture diversification, climate change management and livelihoods and draw future research strategies to address the emerging matrix of agriculture problems in holistic manner. Around 1000 delegates from 24 countries are participating in the Congress.
Inaugurating the Congress, Dr. Charan Das Mahant, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries emphasized on the importance of processing of agricultural products to enhance profitability in agriculture. To encourage and promote food processing industries in India, Government has prepared “Vision-2015” with the objective to increase food processing by 20%, he informed. Food processing and secondary agriculture are the areas in which greater investment is required to create rural assets and increase employment opportunities. Dr. Mahant hoped that this Congress will deliberate on the challenges faced by Indian and global agriculture and will also devise a road map to tackle these. He assured that the recommendations and suggestions of the Congress will be taken up for the betterment of farming communities.
In his address Shri Tariq Anwar, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries expressed concern over continuous shrinking of land holdings and impeding danger of climate change. Presently, Indian agriculture is at crossroads due to increasing population and rising costs of agricultural inputs, he remarked, at the same time income of the farmers is to be raised. Shri Anwar said that pressure on agriculture land is increasing due to land utilization for non-agricultural purposes, which needs logical redressal.
Earlier, Dr. S. Ayyappan, Chairman, Board of Governors of Congress and Secretary, DARE and DG, ICAR elaborated the impressive role of agriculture in the Indian Economy and emphasized that agriculture is the key to create employment in the country. However, attainment of nutritional security is still a challenge in view of prevalent child malnutrition. Calling this Congress as Krishi Kumbh, he said that agronomy is a science that acts beyond the borders. Precision farming, nano-technology, ICT and other cutting-edge technologies are being embraced to break the yield barriers of crops
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