The Tribune
Dharamsala
Dr Pawan Kumar Mehta, Dean, College of Agriculture, presides over a conference at agriculture university in Palampur on Thursday.
An international conference on wheat started at CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University here on Thursday. More than 200 scientists from UK, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Jordon, Morocco and India are participating in the conference.
In his inaugural address, Prof VL Chopra, a well-known scientist and former Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and former Member of the Planning Commission, said that wheat productivity enhancement through smart practices was a timely and an important issue. He said that wheat productivity was at apex point so to take it to next level was a challenge for the scientists. To break the yield level, work should be done to allow the plant to produce more biomass. He also suggested international collaboration on research issues as all scientists were better equipped to work on wheat.
Dr Michael Baum, Director, Biodiversity and Crop Improvement, International Centre for Agriculture Research in Dry Land Areas, Morocco, said that India was an important country for farm research. Dr Baum said that research emphasis should be on rain-fed production and diseases like yellow rust. He said that support of the government for wheat production was an important factor to scientists all over the world.
Prof Ashok Kumar Sarial, Vice-Chancellor, HP Agriculture University, said that India was second highest wheat producer in the world. He said that wheat was grown all over Himachal Pradesh occupying 65 per cent of the cultivable area. The state was ideal for speed breeding as two crops were raised in a year.
Dr GP Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal, said that earlier research had concentrated on increasing the wheat production but now emphasis was on value addition and finding solutions to new diseases for this important crop.
