SAARC Agriculture Centre’s Regional Consultative Meeting at NRRI
One day “Regional Consultative Meeting for Exchange of Rice-Based Production and Value Chain Development Technologies in the SAARC Member States” was organised at ICAR National Rice Research Institute on 14th August 2018 as SAC approved program for the year 2018. Delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the Regional Consultative Meeting. The objectives of this programme was to promote exchange of high yielding climate resilient technologies / varieties (STRVs) among SAARC Countries; study and develop sustainable rice based food value chain system; establish vibrant rice based technology forum for policy dialogue and exchange of technologies and knowledge in line with SDG goals and organise exposure visits for senior rice scientists to IRRI and National Agricultural Research and Education Systems. As opening presentation, Dr. H Pathak, Director, ICAR- National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack gave a detailed account of Rice in India as compared to other countries which was followed by presentations by Dr SK Pradhan, Dr. Mohd. Shahid, Dr. GAK Kumar and Dr JN Reddy on varieties, rice production technologies, rice value chain and STRASA project, respectively. A detailed discussion was held among all the delegates. Dr. S.M. Bokhtiar, Director, SAARC Agriculture Centre, Dr. Pradyuman Raj Padey, Senior Programme Specialist (Crops) and Dr. M Variar, IRRI gave their valuable inputs in the Regional Consultative Meeting. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.
