ICAR DG praises SKUAST-K’s initiatives, chairs Carbon Farming workshop

Srinagar, Nov 6: Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Government of India, visited the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) and praised the university’s innovative initiatives and start-up ecosystem.

During his maiden visit, Dr Pathak chaired a Brain Storming Workshop on Carbon Farming, which was organized under the HADP Project on Alternate System of Agriculture for Sustainability, in collaboration with the Kashmir Chapter of the Indian Society of Agronomy.

Dr Pathak visited various centres and laboratories at SKUAST-K, including the SKIIE Centre (SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre), CAIML (Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), and the Biotechnology Laboratories. He interacted with the faculty and student start-ups and appreciated the university’s innovation-based entrepreneurship initiatives.

During the inaugural session of the workshop, Dr Pathak highlighted the role of Carbon Farming in enhancing soil fertility, improving agricultural resilience, and mitigating the impact of climate change. He assured full support from ICAR for SKUAST-K’s futuristic initiatives and expressed the hope that other agricultural universities would follow the university’s model of education, research, and entrepreneurship.

SKUAST-K Vice Chancellor, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, emphasized the university’s efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture and sustainable farming practices. Other dignitaries, including Dr Anup Das, Director of ICAR-RCER Patna, Dr MK Verma, Director of ICAR-CITH Srinagar, and Dr SK Sharma, ADG-HRM and President of the Indian Society for Agronomy, also spoke during the event.

The two-day workshop featured keynote lectures, lead papers from prominent speakers, and oral and poster research presentations.