Dr K V Rao, Principal Scientist and Secretary ISDA welcomed all the delegates and distinguished dignitaries to the function. Dr V. K. Singh, Director ICAR-CRIDA and President ISDA, welcomed the delegates and dignitaries and apprised the gathering about the importance of rainfed agriculture to the Indian economy and also informed that the main reason for organizing the conference is to bring the researchers, farmers, NGOs, policy makers and private sector on the same platform so that the recommendations that are useful to the farming community can be made.

Dr S. K. Chaudhary, DDG (NRM) in his address asked the delegates to come up technologies, recommendations and policy briefs that will of help to the farming community in overcoming the different stresses and problems being encountered in rainfed farming.

Dr. B. Venkateswarlu, Former VC, VNMKV, Parbhani stressed to prioritize interventions for large scale implementation in rainfed areas.

Mr. Ross Mitchell, Global Head Agronomy, AACN, highlighted diversity of soils and crops of Indian agriculture helps in evaluating the performance of POLY4 in a better way.

Dr. Arvind Kumar, Former VC, RLBCAU, Jhansi appreciated the efforts CRIDA in organizing the conference and advised to see the farmers has to take more rainfed crops.

Dr. Rajaram Deshmukh, Former VC, MPKV, Rahuri in his address stressed to identify the best practices and create awareness amongst the farmers.

Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General (ICAR) and Secretary (DARE) in his address congratulated the researchers of rainfed farming for enhancing the productivity, overcoming some of the abiotic stresses, developing resilient varieties, minimizing the risks and bringing in the resilience to the rainfed farming. He also stressed that efforts are needed to be made by the researchers in developing new crops and varieties, new agronomic practices, crop diversification and new extension methodologies that can still enhance the productivity and resilience of rainfed farming.

Dr Panjab Singh, Chancellor, RLBCAU, Uttar Pradesh Former DG(ICAR) and Secretary DARE in his address also congratulated all the rainfed researchers and workers for their contribution to rainfed farming and believed the future growth of the country will be from rainfed areas.

Compendium of Extended summaries of this conference and other publications related the conference was released by the dignitaries. Presentation of Awards Felicitation of Luminaries of Dryland Agriculture was done during this program. The program ended with vote of thanks