Second day at 14th Agriculture Science Congress

The ongoing 14^th Agriculture Science Congress (20-23 February) organized by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) is a big platform to present knowledge on Innovations for Agricultural transformations.

The Congress proved to be a grand success on its second day after the inauguration of Dr. A.B. Joshi Memorial Hall on 20 Feb by Honourable Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh in the presence of eminent personalities like Dr. Punjab Singh, President of NAAS, New Delhi; Dr. T. Mohapatra and many others. Other than this the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences had great pleasure in presenting Dr. B.P.Pal Memorial Award for Excellence in Agricultural Sciences to Prof. Ram Badan Sing for his outstanding contributions towards overall agricultural research and development for the Biennium 2017-18.

Dr. A.B.Joshi Memorial Lecture Award was given to Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, F.R.S., Former Director General, CSIR.

Dr. K. Ramiah Award was given to Dr. Kailash Chander Bansal, Former Director, NBPGR and many such awards and accolades including Endowment award, Recognition award and Young scientist award in different sectors of agriculture sciences were presented on the occasion.

The plenary lectures on different themes like Plant science(Field crops & Horticultural crops),Natural Resource management & Plant protection were the part of sessions in different lecture halls of the new auditorium providing insights on different topics like Genomics for crop improvement, Disruptive technologies for yield Improvement, Breeding for Biotic and Abiotic stress tolerance, Genetic Amelioration of crop plants for better nutrition, Horticulture production systems, Innovation in hi-tech horticulture, Post harvest management and value addition, water security, soil health, Integrated farming systems, technologies for climate resilience, upscaling NRM Technologies, Recent trends in Pest-Pathogen management and so on.

Innovation through technology-enabled supply chain through the use of RFID, advanced GIS/GPS, tracing and traceability systems is already happening. We could get more from less by reducing wastage and ensuring quality throughout the supply chain.

And one must commend the Indian Government as well as State governments for creating a conducive environment for young start-ups.