G20 meet on Climate Change and Agriculture Concludes

Hyderabad: Participating nations, invitees, and scientists involved in finding solutions to climate change related problems, have agreed to have a common platform to share climate experiences, exchange best practices at the three-day G20 Technical Workshop on Climate Resilient Agriculture in Hyderabad that concluded on Wednesday.

According to Dr S.K. Chaudhari, the deputy director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the workshop resulted in a common understanding between the countries present on knowledge sharing as each country may be facing different challenges arising out of climate change. “India is one of the leading countries to have invested heavily in climate change research and climate resilient agriculture technologies, which are very robust and strong. We developed large varieties of crops for different climate extremes – long winters, heat, and crops that can withstand even extreme climate events such as cyclones,” he said.

Addressing a press conference, he said the participants, including India, benefited from the presence of delegations from the USA, Canada, Indonesia and Japan among others, with some of these countries leading in climate change simulation modelling. The Canadian expertise in hardy crops in mountain ranges, for instance, is an area where we can learn from them, he said.

Dr Rajbir Singh, ICAR’s additional director general said there was unanimity that climate change was impacting agriculture in a big way and the buzzwords during the conference were coordination, cooperation, and convergence. Dr V.K. Singh, the director of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, said the event was an important steps in helping the world face the global challenges to agriculture resulting from climate change.