ICAR Organised a Symposium on “Role of Phytopathology in Achieving Food Security”

The ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora, Uttarakhand organized the National Symposium on “Recent Trends in Phytopathology to address Emerging Challenges for Achieving Food Security” from 21^st to 22^nd February, 2022. 

The Symposium was organized in association with the Mid-Eastern Zone Chapter of Indian Phytopathological Society (IPS), New Delhi. 

Symposium Highlights: 

Delivering the inaugural address, the Chief Guest, Dr. Tilak Raj Sharma, Deputy Director General (Crop Science), ICAR highlighted the importance of the Symposium and Indian Phytopathological Society. The need of domestic quarantine for distribution of seed materials, accurate identification and diagnosis of plant pathogens, yield loss estimation and deploying host-resistance for management of plant diseases was stressed by Dr. Sharma. 

The Chief Guest of the Plenary Session, Dr. P.K. Chakrabarty, Member, Agricultural Scientists’ Recruitment Board, New Delhi outlined the importance of pests and diseases, economic losses caused by them and need of accurate estimation caused by the various pests. 

Dr. Pratibha Sharma, President, Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi underlined the Society’s achievements. 

Dr. Robin Gogoi, Secretary, Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi has given his valuable remarks about the society and informed the house about the symposium organized by other zones of IPS. 

Earlier, welcoming the dignitaries, Dr. Lakshmi Kant, Director, ICAR-VPKAS, Almora briefed about the status, challenges and new avenues in the hill agriculture to improve the livelihood and ensure food security. 

The Eminent Speakers from the International organizations - Dr. Harbans Bariana, University of Sydney, Australia; Dr. Pawan Kumar Singh, CIMMYT, Mexico and Dr. Santosh Kumar, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea delivered Lectures during the occasion. 

More than 100 participants including Vice-Chancellors, Directors of ICAR Institutes, Professors, Students, Faculty Members from State Agricultural Universities and Scientists participated in the Symposium.