Dr Surinder K Vasal, a distinguished plant breeder, who shared the World Food Prize with Dr Evangelina Villegas in the year 2000 for developing Quality Protein Maize, has kindly consented to join BISA as Scientist of Eminence. Dr Vasal will work in an honorary capacity.
BISA family extends a warm welcome to Dr Vasal.
The basic purpose of the visit was to see the progress of infrastructure development at BISA and see the new research initiatives at the BISA farm. H S Sidhu, Sr. Research Engineer, BISA welcomed the visitors and explained the major research and development activities being carried out at BISA, Ladhowal. M L Jat, Senior Cropping Systems Agronomist and South Asia Coordinator for CIMMYT- CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), explained to the visitors that with the recent focus on the importance of conservation agriculture (CA), more strategic research on component technologies for precision input management (water, nutrient, adapted genotypes, weed, smart mechanization, etc.) for layering with key elements of CA is critical and hence, the research focus at BISA was on these lines.
The team saw and discussed the recent advances in water management research in maize and wheat based cropping systems being undertaken at the BISA farm such as subsurface drip rice-wheat cropping system trial, where one can produce rice with a saving of 60% irrigation water and achieve a yield equalling to that of puddled transplanted rice. The team also visited the trial on maize-wheat cropping system with subsurface irrigation and layering of different conservation agriculture technologies to develop packages and recommendation for this technology. Jat described the previous work on subsurface drip in maize-wheat cropping system and shared BISA’s experiences and results. “We can produce higher yields in maize-wheat cropping system with a saving of 50% or more water and nitrogen thus increasing N use efficiency”, he said.
A live demonstration of a newly developed tractor operated slitting machine for subsurface drip laying was given to the visitors. The team also visited wheat genotypes evaluation for early seeding in conservation agriculture and evaluation of maize for abiotic stress and cold tolerance. The team was also told about the ongoing work on genomic selection for wheat.
Besides confirming the minutes of the 4th Ex Co and action taken report, the committee took up the agenda for discussion: infrastructure developments at BISA centers, progress of research and other main accomplishments, work plan and operationalising the ICAR-BISA umbrella MoU as presented by H S Gupta, Director General, BISA; administrative issues with States and financial statement as presented by Etienne Duveiller; CIMMYT Director Research, South Asia, and report on 50 Pact Conference and communication strategy as presented by Vibha Dhawan, Deputy Director, Research and Partnerships Coordination, BISA. Vibha also proposed a vote of thanks.
The members of the committee had made a visit to the BISA farm at Lakhanwada, Jabalpur before the commencement of the meeting and witnessed the excellent work being done there. The Office Block at Jabalpur farm was inaugurated by John Snape in the presence of esteemed guests.
H S Gupta, former Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi took over as the Director General of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) on August 7, 2014. IARI is India’s premier institute for agricultural research, education and extension.
The 100th birth anniversary of Norman E. Borlaug was celebrated at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Pusa, New Delhi on March 25, 2014. The CIMMYT-India and BISA staff participated in the event and paid tribute to the Nobel Laureate for his tireless fight against hunger around the world and South Asia in particular.