India: Symposium on sustainable rice production held in Cuttack

J.K. Ladha, IRRI representative to India and Nepal,
on the podium.

A 4-day international symposium, Sustainable rice production and livelihood security: challenges and opportunities, was recently held at the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) in Cuttack.

J.K. Ladha, IRRI representative for India and Nepal, in his message highlighted the importance of CRRI as a partner, citing its involvement in 20 out of 24 collaborative projects between the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research (ICAR) and IRRI for 2013-16.

Dr. Ladha urged participants to identify knowledge gaps in two key areas—genomics and marker-assisted breeding—with an opportunity to identify and transfer genes for complex target traits and find ways for more efficient input use through nanotechnology.

The opening of the event was attended by Devi Prasad Mishra, minister for agriculture of Odisha; and Swapan Kumar Datta, deputy director general (crop science) of ICAR; E.A. Siddiq, former DDG of ICAR; Dr. Ladha; T. Mohapatra, director of CRRI;  K.S. Rao and Sanjoy Saha, president and secretary, respectively, of the Association of Rice Research Workers (ARRW).

Other attendees from IRRI were Ajay Kohli, K.K. Jena, R.K. Singh, Thelma Paris, Abdelbagi  Ismail, Sam Mohanty, and M. Alam.

The ARRW organized the symposium jointly with CRRI-Cuttack, ICAR, the National Academy of Agricultural Science, and IRRI. It was held 2-5 March 2013.



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