Vice Chancellor emphasizes National Database and Block Chain for traceability and Policy Planning

Srinagar: The 31st Annual Meet of Network project on Pesticide Residues to discuss the strategies for safe and judicious use of pesticides to keep the pesticide residual levels at minimum for safe human and environment health and faster promotion of the Agri-Exports from India got underway at SKUASAT Kashmir.
Inaugural session of the meeting was chaired by Dr. T. R. Sharma, Deputy Director General (Crop Science & Horticulture) ICAR New Delhi and attended by Professor Nazir Ahmad GanieVice Chancellor SKUAST-Kashmir,Dr. S. C. Dubey, Additional Director General (Plant Protection and Biosafety) ICAR New Delhi, Dr. VandanaTripathy, Network Coordinator and PI’s of 18 networking centers in Pesticide Residues.
Dr. T. R. Sharma DDG Crop Science & Horticulture, complimented the experts of All India Network Projects on pesticide residues for generating the national level residue data for planning, safe and judicious use of agrochemicals and also on its other achievements at national and international platforms.
Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K, Professor Nazir Ahmad Ganie showed his deep concern on the excessive use of pesticides in general and particularly with respect to the fact that pesticide use in Jammu & Kashmir happens to be the highest in the country. He emphasized on speeding up the efforts on integrated pest management by bringing on biological controls, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, efficient spraying machines for reducing pesticides use by sight and point specific applications. He also stressed about speeding up the efforts breeding resilient crops to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses.
ADG Dr. S. C. Dubey congratulated all the centers across the country for generating large data sets on minimum residual levels for various crops. He further added that the judicious use of pesticides in the most vital component of modern agriculture where India should be a torch bearer to the world.
Dr. VandanaTripathy briefed the house about ongoing national level trials on pesticide residues, highlighting the achievements of the network and importance of NABL accreditation of laboratories working in the field of pesticide residual analysis.
Director Research, SKUAST-K, Dr. T. H. Masoodi highlighted national level policies for safe and sustainable use of pesticides for larger export and better economic returns of the farmers. The three days meeting is attended by more than 115 delegates working on similar lines from all across the nation.
The annual report and technical bulletins on safe and judicious use of pesticides on Okra were also released. Inaugural session ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. Mehraj D. Shah, Head Research Centre for Residue and Quality Analysis, SKUAST Kashmir.

KR Desk