ISARC concludes 6th Coordination Committee Meeting

The IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) successfully concluded the ISARC Coordination Committee (ICC) Meeting last April 20 in Varanasi. IRRI leaders, along with government partners took stock of project activities and lessons learned over the past year to carve a new strategic path for the Government of India and ISARC for the next five years. Dr. Jean Balié, Director General, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) appreciated the cooperation of the Government of India and assured the active participation of the ISARC in this renewed alignment. Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, Director, ISARC shared a detailed update on successful ISARC-led research and training activities and also presented specific activities for future plans in view of IRRI’s mission to uplift the lives of farmers from the South Asia region. Dr. Ajay Kohli and other members of the ISARC Coordination Committee from India, Bangladesh, and Nepal also participated in the meeting.

Present in the meeting were Dr. Jean Balié, Director General, IRRI, the chairperson of the ISARC Coordination Committee; Ms. Wahida Akter, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Bangladesh; Dr. Ram Krishna Shrestha, Joint Secretary (Agri Development), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal; Dr. T R Sharma, DDG - Crop Sciences, ICAR; Mr. M P Yadav, National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC); Dr. Paresh Verma, Director Research of Shriram Bioseed Genetics India; and Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, Director, ISARC.

The ISARC Coordination Committee meeting was also attended by Dr. Shahjahan Kabir, Director General, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI); Mr. P.C. Peiris, DG (Agri. Tech) Sri Lanka; and Dr. Humnath Bhandari, IRRI Representative Bangladesh as the special guests. Mr. Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, who also co-chairs the ISARC Coordination Committee and Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh joined online.

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