Biodiversity, Natural Resources Conservation and Zero Waste Management took center stage in 47th Vice-Chancellors Convention at Vet Varsity

Ludhiana, March 18, 2024: The ongoing 47th Vice-Chancellors’ Convention with the theme “Food and Nutritional Security and Farmers’ Welfare: Vision India-2047 and Beyond” under the aegis of Indian Agricultural University Association (IAUA) at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana today discussed on biodiversity and natural resources conservation to face climate change as well as Zero Waste management.

Dr. Baljit Singh, Vice President (Research), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada talked on “One Planet, One Health and One Future”. Dr. Singh threw light on the challenges for food security, emission of greenhouse gases and declining water table globally, and mentioned the need for one health approach to address the complexity of the environment system as they are interlinked with each other. He listed the sustainable development goals including zero hunger, good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, climate action, life below water and life on land as areas of research interest, where agricultural and veterinary sciences universities can contribute.

Dr A S Dhatt, Director of Research, PAU discussed the status, challenges and perspectives in Horticulture. He briefed on population & agri-workforce in India, share and status of horticulture crops indicating increase in productivity and import and export of horticultural crops over the time. Dr. Sohan Singh Walia, Director School of Organic Farming, PAU highlighted that the waste generated in the farm should be recycled and integrated farming models should be encouraged to minimize the waste. Integrated farming systems can lead to decrease in utilization of chemical fertilizer and can ensure sustainable income for the farmers. Dr. R.C. Agrawal, DDG (Agricultural Education), ICAR highlighted the need of global ranking for the agricultural universities. He mentioned that it will strengthen the global presence with increase in enrolment of students particularly from other countries. During the convention IAUA executive body elected Dr Parvinder Kaushal as the new president of IAUA. 11 exemplary teachers and scientists were felicitated with awards of Best Teacher, Best Researcher and Best Extensionist.

In the valedictory remarks, Dr. Rameshwar Singh, President IAUA mentioned that the recommendations emerged out of deliberations from the five technical sessions would be helpful for developing policies for the benefits of farmers and later to the policy makers. Dr. Inderjeet Singh said that this convention has provided an opportunity to the Vice-Chancellors and policy makers to interact with the other stakeholders including farmers from the agriculture and livestock sectors, and discussed the current challenges and remedies to resolve ongoing and upcoming challenges. He thanked the august gathering and renowned scientists attending this convention.