Hon’ble Governor of Goa, Shri. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai inaugurated the three days National Symposium on “Climate Smart Agronomy for Resilient Production Systems and Livelihood Security” at Goa

 

    Hon’ble Governor of Goa, Shri. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai inaugurated the three days National Symposium on “Climate Smart Agronomy for Resilient Production Systems and Livelihood Security” on 22nd November 2023. The symposium is jointly organized by ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa and the Indian Society of Agronomy from 22-24 November 2023 at St. Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre, Old Goa, Goa.

    In his inaugural address, Hon’ble Governor of Goa, Shri. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai highlighted that ensuring sustainable food production in the face of a changing climate is one of the world's major challenges today. Further, he mentioned that coastal agriculture is a challenging agro-ecology that is threatened by sea level rise, floods, cyclones, tsunami, and other natural disasters. “Hence, research strategies are required to provide sustainable livelihoods to the human populations thriving in these coastal regions”, he highlighted.

    During the inaugural function, Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR), New Delhi, said that agronomy is one of the most important pillars of agriculture. There is a vital role of science and technology-driven innovations in achieving food and nutritional securities while making agriculture more efficient, competitive, profitable and sustainable. Through the development of technologies, ICAR is poised to continue “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliance) in food, nutrition and livelihood security to achieve the aspirations of a developed India. To meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate, research in agronomy plays a major role in developing climate-resilient technologies that help the districts and regions prone to extreme weather conditions like droughts, floods, frost, heat waves, etc. to cope with such extremes.

    Dr. S. K. Chaudhari, Deputy Director General (NRM), ICAR, New Delhi said that the development and identification of appropriate location-specific climate-resilient agronomic practices are the foremost steps for agriculture sector to move to climate smart pathways, which can effectively address climate, food security and poverty concerns in the short term and the livelihood and sustainability concerns in the long term.

    Dr. Shiva Dhar, Secretary, Indian Society of Agronomy welcomed all the guests and delegates participating in the symposium. Padma Shri Dr. Arvind Kumar, Former Vice-Chancellor Rani Lakshmibai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi, Dr. A.K. Vyas, VC, Agriculture University, Kota, Dr B. R. Kamboj, VC, CCS, HAU, Haryana, Dr. V. M.  Bhale, VC, PDKV, Akola and Dr. B.S. Mahapatra, President, Indian Society of Agronomy, also graced the function.

    Dr. Parveen Kumar, Organizing Secretary and Director, ICAR- Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa while proposing vote of thanks informed that about 550 delegates from India as well as SAARC countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are participating in the symposium. He also informed that the research papers in the symposium are invited on innovative ideas and approaches under 10 different subthemes including one special session on “Revitalizing Goan Agriculture and Allied Sectors for Doubling Farmer’s Income”.