Farmer-scientist meet held on ICAR-NIBSM foundation day

Raipur: ICAR - National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (NIBSM), Raipur Chhattisgarh celebrated its foundation day on Saturday.
Dr. R. S. Paroda, former secretary of the department of agricultural research and education (DARE) and director general (DG) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), graced the event as the chief guest, delivering a lecture on ‘scaling innovations critical for agri-food systems transformation in India.’ It highlighted the necessity of scaling up innovations, including hybrid technology, genetically modified crops, conservation agriculture, micro-irrigation, and cutting-edge technologies like genome editing, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence to enhance resilience and sustainability in agriculture, said a press release.
In addition, Dr.S. N. Nigam, former principal scientist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), urged the audience to explore wild relatives of crop plants for resistant genes against biotic stresses, underlining the significance of breeding resistant varieties as a key solution.
During the celebration, several significant publications, particularly focusing on good agricultural practices in field crops, were released, and meritorious scientists were awarded for their outstanding contributions.
As part of the foundation day celebration, a farmer and scientist interaction meeting was organised, benefiting over 100 farmers who had the opportunity to engage with experts. Prof. Wolf B Frommer, an Alexander von Humboldt professor from Heinrich Heine University, Germany, presented a virtual talk on ‘advances in helping rice protect against successful pathogen infection using genetics’. This session was well-coordinated by Dr. K.K. Mondal, joint director (research) at ICAR-NIBSM.
The program was co-ordinated by Dr S.K. Ambast and Dr. Anil Dixit, joint director (school of crop health management research), added to the release.