Advancing state goals with better rice varieties: Bihar Principal Secretary of Agriculture visits ISARC

ISARC Director Dr. Arvind Kumar tours Government of Bihar’s Principal Secretary of the Department Agriculture Shri Saravana Kumar in ISARC’s facilities.

14 Dec 2019 : Government of Bihar’s Principal Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Shri N. Saravana Kumar visited the IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) to better understand the research and development prowess of the state-of-the-art R&D facility and to observe the ongoing field experiments aimed to produce better rice varieties and improve rice-based agri-food systems.

The Principal Secretary visited the Centre of Excellence for Rice Value Addition (CERVA) laboratories including its world-class milling quality, nutritional quality, food safety and quality sensory laboratories. These facilities are central to ISARC’s work on developing climate-resilient rice varieties and related crop management practices for improved food and nutrition security and better incomes for farmers. ISARC’s Broader Program For Research and Partnership (BPRP) and IRRI Research and Education program for training and capacity building of key stakeholders were also discussed during the visit.

ISARC Director Dr. Arvind Kumar led an ISARC tour for Shri Saravana Kumar where the team observed ongoing laboratory experiments with traditional and modern rice varieties juxtaposed for yield outcomes, use of mechanization, and better farming practices.

After Shri Saravana Kumar’s tour at ISARC laboratories and fields, he said, “I’m very impressed with the work being carried out here at the ISARC. These are learnings that I am carrying back to Bihar for further ideation. Rice is the main staple in Bihar and so also India. Going forward, we hope to build robust R&D and training collaboration, working closely with IRRI and ISARC. If we can modernize cultivation of rice and rice-based agri food systems, I see a bright future for our farmer brothers and sisters.”

Shri Saravana Kumar, PS Agriculture (State…