A university official said on Tuesday that Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)-Jammu will hold the three-day Indian Ecological International Conference on “sustainable agricultural innovations for resilient agri-food systems” starting on October 13.
The conference, which will be opened by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, will explore climate change and its effects on agriculture, according to SKUAST-Jammu Vice Chancellor J P Sharma. The mega event will have four poster sessions and five technical sessions. The event is anticipated to draw 300 delegates from both India and beyond, according to Sharma. He added that a showcase of the cutting-edge technologies developed by SKUAST-Jammu and various governmental and commercial sector organisations will also be presented. “Food security is a widespread problem that affects millions of people worldwide, and the Covid epidemic has made things worse. As the world population continues to grow, much more effort and innovation will be urgently needed in order to sustainably increase agricultural production, improve the global supply chain, decrease food losses and waste, and ensure that all who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition have access to nutritious food,” he said.
The vice chancellor stated that in order to meet the expanding demand in India and around the world, it is necessary to respond to this challenge by taking a comprehensive view of the agriculture sector and developing resilient, productive, and sustainable systems for food production, processing, and distribution. According to him, the sustainable development goal of “ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture” acknowledges the connections between advancing sustainable agriculture, empowering small farmers, advancing gender equality, ending rural poverty, ensuring healthy lifestyles, and combating climate change. “Land, good soils, water, and plant genetic resources are essential components of food production, and as these resources become more scarce worldwide, it is crucial to use and manage them responsibly.
The urge to remove forests for agricultural production would be reduced, he claimed, if yields on currently used agricultural land were increased. This would include restoring degraded fields. Sharma emphasised the necessity of effective water management through enhanced irrigation and storage technology as well as the creation of new drought-resistant agricultural varieties. He continued, “Our capacity for innovation and our ability to become significantly more climate-resilient will determine the sustainability of world food supply.”
