SAARC Regional Training Program on Integrated Plant Nutrient Management inaugurated

The role of integrated plant nutrient management system (IPNS) in sustainability of agriculture is important in view of the widespread soil degradation and deterioration of soil health. For increased awareness and greater scientific cooperation among member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the SAARC Agricultural Centre (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) took initiatives for Regional Training Program on various important issues affecting agriculture sector of the region. As a part of this initiative, the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal in collaboration with SAC, Dhaka and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is organizing a training program at ICAR-IISS, Bhopal during 5-10 September, 2018 on the theme “Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System in SAARC countries”.

The objective of this training is sharing of ideas, commonalities and solutions among the researchers and other stakeholders of the SAARC countriesin relation tointegrated plant nutrient management system for improving soil health and crop productivity.

The Chief Guest of Inaugural Session, Dr. S.K. Chaudhari, Assistant Director General, in his address emphasized the importance of such regional cooperation in the field of natural resource management in view of the commonalities in the problems and possible solutions in the SAARC countries. He briefed the audience on the imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers in most of the SAARC countries and its long term impact on soil health and thus the need for developing region specific IPNS modules. He also highlighted the ICAR initiative for strengthening the regional cooperation in agricultural sector

Dr. S.S. Khanna, while presiding over the function, calls for holistic approach of nutrient management for improvement of the fate of farmers in SAARC countries.

Dr. J. K. Saha, I/c Director of the ICAR-IISS provided a brief about the Institute activities and achievements.

Ms. FatemaNasrinJahan, Senior Program Officer of SAARC Agricultural Centre (SAC), Dhaka, Bangladesh calls for upholding the spirit of SAARC cooperation. The participants include 16 researchers and department officialsfrom Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldivesand Sri Lanka.

(Source: ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal)