3- day 30th Annual conference of AERA concludes at SKUAST Jammu

JAMMU, December 23: The three day  regional conference on “Institutional Changes for Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Development” concluded today at SKUAST-Jammu. The conference was organized by SKUAST-Jammu in collaboration with Agricultural Economics Research Association, New Delhi. Speaking during the valedictory session of the conference Prof. J.P. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of the University during his address as Chief Guest stressed that focus should be to transform conventional agriculture into agri-business enterprise with emphasis on value addition and processing to overcome various challenges of Agriculture and allied sectors.

Surplus management through post-harvest processing and value addition with proper branding and marketing is the key for development of the Agriculture sector. Dr Sharma also stressed upon maintaining and uplifting farmers’ self pride and dignity. Prof Sharma emphasized that the recommendation of the conference shall be beneficial for the policy makers for developing a road map of holistic development in Agriculture and allied sectors. Prof. P. K. Joshi Chaired the Awardee Session wherein Young Agricultural Economist Awardee and Uma Lele Mentorship Awardee made presentations. Prof. Jyoti Kachroo, Director (P&M) and Head AEABM spoke about innovation and role of agri-startups to meet the challenges in agriculture and allied sectors.

Dr. Anjani Kumar SRF, IFPRI presented conference proceedings. During the session awards were also distributed for Best Poster Presentations. Prof.  Sudhakar Dwivedi, Organizing Secretary of the conference was also felicitated by the AERA for successfully organizing the conference. At the outset, Dr. Anil Bhat, Assistant Professor, AEABM welcomed all the dignitaries and guests. More than 300 delegates including members of the scientific community and students participated in the conference. Eight technical sessions were held for oral presentations and ninety posters were presented which were critically evaluated by the chairman and Co-chairman of the respective session for selection of best among each session. Delegates experts from NIAP, IFPRI, PAU, Ludhiana, HAU, Hisar, HPKV Palampur, Dr YSPUH&F Solan, IARI, Central Universities, SKUAST Jammu, SKUAST Kashmir and other national institutes participated in the conference.

Statutory officers of the University, Head of the various divisions, Scientist, staff members, students delegates across the country and media personnel were also present during the valedictory session.

Vote of thanks was presented by Prof.  Sudhakar Dwivedi, Organizing Secretary of the conference. Proceedings of the session were conducted by Dr. P. K. Rai, Professor, Soil Science.