A five-year plan for Indian agricultural research was finalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). This plan will focus on technologies especially suited to harsh conditions of the drylands, covering grain legumes and dryland cereals – groundnut, chickpea, pigeonpea, finger and pearl millet and sorghum.

The MoA representing action plans for 2019 to 2023 was signed in New Delhi today by Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General ICAR, and Peter Carberry, Director General of ICRISAT.

The DGs of both organizations highlighted the long-standing partnerships between ICRISAT and ICAR and emphasized on collaborations to evolve, lead and innovate in agricultural technologies.

“I value the ICAR-ICRISAT partnership greatly in the interest of farming communities of India” said Mohapatra, adding that this would help adapt to the changing agriculture landscape in India as well as contribute towards the country priority of doubling farmers’ income.

Carberry said, “Our science teams in ICRISAT have worked hard to develop these plans with support from ICAR partners. These collaborations are critical to deliver on our mission to improve livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers across Asia and African drylands”.

The two organizations work together towards creative disruptions by thinking outside the box of existing paradigms. This requires maximizing impact of existing technologies and generating new ones to increase efficiency of dryland agriculture production systems.

The key projects they work on include – improved crop varieties, new breeding and enabling technologies, and systems and modelling tools for better farm systems and nutrition-sensitive agriculture value chains.

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