A Brainstorming Workshop on Climate Change Research and the 18th Expert Committee meeting of NICRA was held at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad during 01 -02 September 2024 to review 16 competitive grant and 1 sponsored project. Dr SK Chaudhari, DDG (NRM) chaired the meeting. Dr VK Singh, Director (ICAR-CRIDA) welcomed the participants.

Dr Rajbir Singh, ADG (AAF&CC); Dr PK Agrawal, BISA; Dr KS Kavi Kumar, MSE; Dr K. Achuta Rao, IIT, Delhi; Dr B Venkateswarlu, Chairman, NICRA Expert Committee; members of Expert Committee Dr AM Paturkar; Dr KK Vass; Dr Kuldeep Singh; Dr US Sharma and Dr KD Kokate, and scientists from CRIDA participated and provided inputs.

Dr SK Chaudhari, DDG (NRM) appreciated the progress of the project and the recognition for NICRA project at both national and global level. He further emphasized to reshape research on climate resilient agriculture and develop capacity building programmes for various stakeholders. He also emphasized the need to hold several stakeholder meetings to synthesize and finalize the future climate change research program.

Dr Rajbir Singh, ADG (AAF&CC) emphasized the need to assess the impact of various interventions and bring out policy briefs for further scaling of climate resilient technologies. Dr B Venkateswarlu suggested to develop projects in a network mode on important research areas and also suggested to involve partners from relevant organizations. Dr PK Agrawal highlighted that the climate change research should not only address agricultural production but also other aspects such as labour and farmers health, human conflicts, transboundary incidence of insect-pests and diseases etc.

Dr Kavi Kumar urged to undertake a comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts at national level and use of AI&ML to make localized decisions. Dr Achuta Rao stressed on the need to have strategic partnerships with other organizations for climate change research. Dr Kuldeep Singh opined that work on screening of germplasm for various stresses including drought and waterlogging should be strengthened.

Dr AM Paturkar advised to increasing vaccination programmes to reduce methane emissions in animals. Dr KK Vass stressed on the need to document positive impacts of climate change on fishery sector. Dr KD Kokate highlighted the need for integrated approach to avoid losses at various stages of food chain and also strengthen capacity building programmes at ground level.

Dr US Sharma suggested having more simulation studies to assess the impact of climate change on insect-pests and diseases, and develop appropriate IPM modules. This was followed by presentations by 17 NICRA partner institutes and all were asked to submit final reports by December 2024.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks by Dr KA Gopinath, CO-PI, NICRA.