A three days (25-27 November, 2024) regional consultation meeting was conducted by the SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) in virtual mode on “Promotion of Resource Conservation technologies in SAARC Members States”. It was approved by the 15th meeting of SAC Governing Board and the 59th meeting of Programming Committee, of SAARC.
Focal points of different SAARC Members States including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, scientists of different national and international research organizations and as well as universities of different SAARC Member States participated in this meeting.
Ambassador Mr. Abdul Motaleb Sarker, Director General SAARC and BIMSTEC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bangladesh was the Chief guest of this meeting. Dr Nazmun Nahar Karim, Executive Chairman BARC, attended this meeting as the Special guest and Mr. Jamaluddin Ahmad, Director ARD & SDF, SAARC Secretariat Nepal was the Guests of Honor. Dr Md. Harunur Rashid, Director SAARC Agriculture Centre welcomed all the guests and Dr Sikander Khan Tanveer, Senior Program Specialist (Crops), gave the presentation about the purpose of conducting this regional consultation meeting.
Dr Mahesh Kumar Gathala, Senior Systems Agronomist and Science Lead, Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program (SAS) CIMMYT Office Dhaka, Bangladesh was the Keynote Speaker. He gave a detailed presentation on Conservation Agriculture role in food security and environmental protection of South Asia.
Focal points of the SAARC Member States gave their detailed presentations on the status of use of different resource conservation technologies. In addition to the Focal points presentations, there were five different technical sessions and these sessions were chaired by the eminent scientists. In these sessions there were thirteen presentations by the eminent scientists of the different SAARC Member States on the different aspects of Resource conservation agriculture technologies which are being used in the different countries.
Dr Muhammad Sharif, Post Doctoral Fellow IRRI Bangladesh office gave presentation on Sustainable Rice Production: Exploring Alternative Establishment Methods; Dr Gunga Duta Acharya, SPS (PSDP) SAC Dhaka gave presentation on Conservation Agriculture : A Circular Economic Perspective; Dr Umme Aminun Nahar, Principal Scientific Officer, BRRI Ghazipur, Bangladesh gave presentation on Different rice genotypes & N use efficiency under different management practices; Dr Ebna Rhman (Senior Project Manager, CIP) gave presentation on Zero tillage Potato Production; Dr Noman Latif Sadozai, Senior Director CAWERI, PARC-NARC Islamabad gave presentation on Promotion of climate smart agriculture practices for water and energy saving in Pakistan; Dr Khokan Kumar Sarker,Senior Scientific Officer Irrigation & Water Management Division Division, BARI Ghazipur Bangladesh gave presentation on IoT Enabled Sensor Based Precision Agriculture for crops production; Dr Abdul Ghafoor, Chairman Department of Farm Machinery,University of Agriculture Faisalabad gave presentation on Conservation Agriculture machinery; Dr Masud Iqbal, Senior Scientific Officer, BRRI, Ghazipur, Bangldeah gave presentation on Effects of different organic and inorganic fertilizers applications on the productivity of rice crop and soil health under Conservation Agriculture; Dr Taslima Zahan, Senior Scientific Officer OFRD, BARI Ghazipur Bangladesh gave presentation on Weed and N management in rice-wheat-mung bean cropping system; Dr Devashis Chakraborti, Senior Scientist, Cropping Systems Agronomist CWANA Region – CIMMYT Bangladesh office gave presentation on Conservation Agriculture & Soil Health Management; Dr Md. Mozammel Haque, Senior Scientific Officer BRRI Ghazipur Bangladesh gave presentation on Comparison of net Global Warming Potential between continuous flooding and alternate wetting and drying irrigation system during Boro rice cultivation and similarly Dr Dr T.P Tiwari, Country Head CIMMYT Office – Islamabad Pakistan gave presentation on Conservation Agriculture: Insights from Experience.
At the end all the aspects related to the promotion of Resource conservation technologies including, research and development, policies of the government, availability of proper machinery and training of the farmers and staff of Agriculture Extension Departments and similarly the scientist for further promotion of Resource conservation technologies. It was concluded that there is a lot of potential for the promotion of different Resource conservation technologies in this region. It was also suggested that SAARC Members States can help each other in the exchange of knowledge and technologies and as well as exposure visit of scientists, staff of Agriculture Extension Departments and farmers can increase the knowledge and skills and confidence of the people involved in the promotion of Resource Conservation technologies in the SAARC Member States.
