23rd ICAR Regional Committee meet concludes
Author(s): Charanjit Singh SalujaThe photograph taken on concluding day of 23rd ICAR Regional Committee meet at PAU, Ludhiana on Saturday. Ludhiana, November 15, 2014: Two-day XXIII meeting of ICAR Regional Committee V concluded at Punjab...
Ludhiana, November 15, 2014: Two-day XXIII meeting of ICAR Regional Committee V concluded at Punjab Agricultural University, today. About 125 delegates which included senior scientists and heads of various ICAR institutes spread across Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi and senior officers of the State Agriculture Department attended the meet which was jointly organized by ICAR, New Delhi, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal and PAU, Ludhiana. The heads of the participating institutes deliberated on the need to develop research based strategies to tackle the issues of conservation of natural resources; rising cost of cultivation; increasing problem of salinity/alkaline/heavy metal toxicity; commercial agriculture; animal health care and breeding; imbalanced fertilization; food safety issues; skill development; e-learning; protected cultivation; encashing diversity; new courses on disaster management, etc. All aspects of agriculture-crop science, animal science, fisheries, agricultural engineering, agricultural education, extension, horticulture were discussed in details. Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Govt. of India and Director General ICAR, New Delhi was the Chairman of the Meet.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Ayyappan stressed on promoting conservation agriculture. He said technologies should be promoted which offer low cultivation cost and at the same time save natural resources of water and soil. He said Punjab and Haryana have adopted comprehensive agriculture where a wide varieties of crops are grown-cereal-pulses, fruits, oilseeds, cash crops, etc. This model needs to be replicated in other states which are growing only single crops, he said adding that crop diversification, climate change, resource conservation technologies, and quality seed production are some other issues that warrant attention. Voicing concerns over paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana. Dr. Ayyappan said farmers should be motivated to shun this practice through special incentives. Conservation agricultural technologies should be demonstrated to farmers in a big way, he said.
In his remarks, PAU Vice Chancellor, Dr. Baldev Singh Dhillon said that to meet the future challenges facing agriculture, close linkages with different agricultural institutes and state government are vital. Dr. Dhillon honoured Dr. Ayyappan with the memento of Golden Temple and a shawl.
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Date:
Saturday, November 15, 2014