Secretary, Dept of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Cooperative and Vice Chancellor of Birsa Agricultural University Aboobacker Siddique P has stressed on concentrating research efforts on developing climate resilient agriculture system. He said India is a surplus country on food grains front but much work remains to be done on bio-safety, nutritional security and mitigation strategy to meet the challenges posed by climate change.

He was addressing the inaugural session of two-day national seminar on ‘Challenges, opportunities and strategies of plant science for crop improvement’ organized by Ranchi Chapter of Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding (ISG&PB) at BAU on Wednesday. He said scientists should always keep reading, listening, watching, analyzing and innovating because knowledge without updating is of no use. We have to continuously refine our knowledge and skills for achieving excellence in speed, rate and quality to compete and survive in the world.
Dr SK Pradhan, Assistant Director General (Food & Fodder Crops) of ICAR said India produced 330 million tons of food grains this year which was target for 2030. We are now 7 years ahead on this front but it should not be reason for complacency. We have to triple the production of maize and millets by 2047 which is 37 and 15 million tons at present. Maize is required for bio-fuel production also. The future target of production enhancement will have to be achieved using lesser water, fertilizers, chemicals and land for sustainability.

Dr Sanjay Kumar, national president of the Society and Director of Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau (UP) said India is home for 18 percent of world’s population but only 2.4 percent land and 4 percent water of the globe is available here. This calls for paradigm shift in policy, plan and strategy on plant breeding front.

Welcoming the guests, Dr Manigopa Chakraborty, organising secretary of the event and Chairman, Dept of Genetics & Plant Breeding of BAU outlined the activities and achievements of the Ranchi Chapter of ISG&PB..
Over 150 plant breeders, geneticists,  physiologists, biotechnologists, seed technologists and horticulturists from different agricultural universities, ICAR research institutes and seed industry are participating in the event in hybrid mode. Those attending online include Dr MP Pandey and Dr ON Singh, former vice chancellors of BAU and Dr BD Singh, former emeritus professor, School of Biotechnology, BHU.

Secretary Agriculture also felicitated Dr ZA Haider and Dr Violet Kerketta, former chairpersons, Dept of GPB and Dr A Wadood, former Director Research for their special contribution. Dr Nutan Verma, treasurer of the Society proposed a vote of thanks.