ISARC Director honored with Crop and Weed Science Society Gold Medal Awards in an International Conference held at BCKV, Kalyani, West Bengal

The Crop and Weed Science Society (CWSS) has conferred CWSS Gold Medals to Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, Director-IRRI South Asia Regional Centre, Varanasi (ISARC), and Dr. Virender Kumar, Deputy Head-Sustainable Impact Department, IRRI in the sixth international conference on “agricultural innovations for sustainable development goals with special focus on natural farming” for their outstanding contributions in the field of crop and weed science.

Odisha Government and IRRI to promote climate-resilient rice varieties to reduce losses from natural calamities

In the Indian state of Odisha, rice is synonymous with food. Unfortunately, the state is also vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Odisha’s agriculture sector is already experiencing delayed monsoon and prolonged dry season, increased frequency of heavy rainfall and strong cyclones, and higher average temperatures. All of these contribute to lower rice productivity.

To help mitigate the impact of climate change, representatives of the state government and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) signed a memorandum of understanding to promote high-yielding, stress-tolerant, and climate-resilient rice varieties in the rainfed areas of Odisha. The partnership will also focus on developing modern and appropriate management practices for both rainfed and irrigated systems.

 “With frequent natural calamities causing huge loss in the agriculture sector, the government hopes IRRI would come up with new technology to produce more stress-tolerant paddy that would be helpful for farmers,”said Mr. Rajesh Verma, Odisha’s principal secretary Agriculture. “Besides, more efficient and cost effective nutrient management technologies would be available to the farmers.” This collaboration would further explore science-based crop insurance system at a reasonable cost, Verma added.

Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha agreed. "This would help in developing high-yielding varieties that can cope with adverse climatic conditions and paddy seeds that can be grown even under drought and flood conditions,” he said.

In addition, the collaboration also strengthens cooperation in the field of research, development, training, improvement of production technology of rice and extension.
"We will provide better flood and drought-resistant seeds, manage post-harvest activities, increase capacity building of rice scientists, progressive farmers and agriculture officials and dissemination of other technical know-how," said Matthew Morell, IRRI deputy director general for research

Commissioner of Agriculture Pramod Meherda and Morell signed agreement on 3 October in the presence of Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy, Chief Secretary Gopal Chand Pati, and other senior officials.  IRRI scientists Dr. A. M. Ismail, Dr. U. S. Singh, and Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, were also present during the event.


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India: Agriculture minister encourages India’s farmers to use stress-tolerant rice varieties

“Use flood- and drought-tolerant rice to get maximum profit from your small landholdings in the stress-prone areas of Bihar.” This was the key message of Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, to a gathering of more than a thousand farmers during a foundation ceremony of the National Integrated Agriculture Research Centre (Rastriya Samekit Krishi Anushandan Kendra), Motihari, Bihar, India on 21 August.

Minister Singh’s speech centered on stress-tolerant rice varieties (STRVs) and how it could help farmers improve land productivity. The Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) project has been developing improved rice varieties that can survive flooding, drought, salinity, and toxicity for dissemination in areas affected by such unfavorable conditions.

The agriculture minister told the farmers of how scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) took him to a pond planted with a new flood-tolerant rice variety that was fully submerged in water for 15 days. “I immediately asked them: ‘Why this much water? Wouldn’t the rice rot?’,” he related.

He shared that the crop variety that survived 15 days of full submergence had “very good yield” and proudly announced that the seeds of such a variety are available for farmers in Motihari. There were also trials conducted in several villages in Motihari for the drought-tolerant variety Sahbagi dhan.

In the same event, 10 progressive farmers from the Motihari district were honored by Minister Singh for adopting improved agricultural technologies. Four of these farmers went through demonstration trials and received training on STRV management options via the STRASA and the Improved Rice-Based Rainfed Agricultural Systems in Bihar projects.

“Following the Minister’s speech, the IRRI booth received a rush of inquiries from farmers,” said Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, IRRI scientist and rainfed-lowland agronomist for South Asia, who represented the Institute during the foundation ceremony and exhibit.

Top officials from ICAR, including Director General Dr. S. Ayappan, and its institutes were present in the ceremony.