SRINAGAR: Dr. Stanford Blade, Deputy Director General, along with Dr. Damaris Odeny and Dr. Manzoor A. Dar of ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), met Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha yesterday. They were accompanied by Prof. Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Vice Chancellor of SKUAST-Kashmir.
The ICRISAT team briefed the Lieutenant Governor on the institute’s mandate to combat poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and environmental degradation in the drylands of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Their work focuses on developing climate-smart, high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistant crop varieties, promoting sustainable farming systems, enhancing natural resource and water management, and strengthening value chains, markets, and farmer resilience.
The experts also highlighted the climate vulnerability of the Himalayan region and its implications for agriculture and farmers’ livelihoods.
The Lieutenant Governor expressed interest in collaborating with ICRISAT to strengthen Jammu and Kashmir’s capacity to address future agricultural challenges posed by climate change through new technologies, crop diversification, and data-driven advisory services for farmers.
