A two-day International Conference was organized by the Post Graduate Department of Geography of Govt. Degree College, Kathua on “Sustainable Agriculture” on October 10, 2022 in collaboration with Global Forum for Sustainable Rural Development (GFSRD) & Global Centre for Sustainable Agriculture & Food Security (GCSAFS).
The main objective of the conference was to provide an overview of the current state of sustainable agricultural practices & systems (SAPS) in India. The online International Conference was attended by more than 130 faculty members and students from various Universities and Colleges in India & abroad.
At the outset, Dr. Amrik Singh, Assistant Professor and organizing secretary of the Conference formally welcomed the Chief Guest of the Conference, Dr. Daniel Balaban (Director & Representative, United Nations World Food Program, Centre of Excellence against Hunger in Brazil) along with Prof. Sumanesh Jasrotia, Principal, GDC Kathua, Guest Speakers, and all the participants.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Sumanesh Jasrotia thanked Guest Speakers namely Prof. Nada Ratkovic (Croatia University Split), Dr.Jayanta Choudhary (Founder of Global Forum for Sustainable Rural Development), Dr.Veena Joshi (Former Professor & Head, Department of Geography, University of Pune), Dr. Shashi Prabha (Sr. Asst. Professor, Department of Geography, University of Jammu) and other eminent personalities for consenting to deliver lectures on the topic of such great importance.
On the first day of the Conference, Dr. Manas Mohan Adhikary (Former Vice Chancellor, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya), extensively deliberated on the fundamentals of sustainable agriculture. On a similar note, Dr. Mukti Sadhan Basu, (Ex. Director of National Groundnut Research Centre), ICAR & FAO, UNDP) highlighted the importance of value addition to the crops as a major component of sustainable agriculture.
Other prominent speakers of the day included, Dr M.Muruganandam (Fulbright Scholar & Principal Scientist (Fisheries & Aquaculture), ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation Institute, Dr. Manojit Basu (Managing Director Science policy, Croplife America, Washington), Dr. Parveen Kumar Asstt. Professor SKUAST-Kashmir, Prof Dr Beatriz Lucia Salvador Bizotto Visitor professor at Veni Christian University from Florida USA.
Dr. Shashi Prabha (Sr. Asst. Professor, Department of Geography, University of Jammu), in the last session of the Conference, presented a captivating talk on the broad theme of sustainable agriculture.
The first day of the Conference was moderated by Dr. Verinder Singh, Head & Asst. Professor of the PG Department of Geography, Prof. Jagdish Lal of the same Department, and Mr. Kaurab Singh (Asst. Professor of Biotechnology).
Concluding remarks for the day were offered by Dr. Verinder Singh by presenting a vote of thanks. The Conference of this magnitude could be held because of the joint efforts of the Advisory Committee members of GDC Kathua including Dr. Seema Malpotra, Prof. Rajkiran Sharma, Prof. Jasvinder Singh, Prof. Rakesh Singh, Dr. Kailash Sharma, Dr. Sumit Dubey, Dr. Suraya Partap Singh, Prof. Rajesh Chalotra, Prof. Anoop Sharma, Prof. Manmohan Singh, Dr. Kamal Deep Singh, Prof. Kaurab Singh, Prof. Reetika Rani, Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Dr. J.S. Soodan and others.
