ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Research Centre, Udhagamandalam organized a workshop on “Carbon Conscious Agriculture for Climate Security” on 05.12.2024 as a part of the celebration of World Soil Day-2024 under the Scientific Social Responsibility initiative of DST-SERB, GOI and NICES programme of NRSC-ISRO, Hyderabad. The workshop was attended by 50 scholars from teaching, research community and students from the institutions including Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore; ICAR-IARI, Wellington; ICAR-CPRS, Ooty, Centre of Medicinal Plants Research in Homeopathy, Ministry of Ayush, Emerald and Government Arts College, Ooty. The workshop commenced with a welcome address by Dr. P. Raja, Principal Scientist & Organizing Secretary followed by ceremonial lighting of the lamp by the Dr. Somasundaram Jayaraman, Head, ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam and Co-convener of the workshop.

In his inaugural address, Dr. Somasundaram Jayaraman highlighted the importance of carbon farming in enhancing agricultural resilience against climate change. Dr. Ramesh Srivastava, Former Vice Chancellor, CAU, Pusa, Bihar also addressed the gathering emphasizing the need for stronger policy coordination between research and policy bodies to benefit the farmers practicing the carbon farming. Dr M. Madhu, Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun and Convenor of the workshop in his Chief guest address underscored the critical role of natural resources management in sustainable agriculture. He stressed the importance of adopting carbon-effective farming practices to reduce the green house gas emissions and called upon scientists and participants to work towards achieving zero emission status in agriculture.

The workshop featured three insightful keynote presentations on the latest advancements in carbon farming practices. These were delivered by Dr. Somasundaram Jayaraman, Head of ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam; Dr. U. Surendran, Principal Scientist, ICAR-NBSS & LUP and Dr. P. Raja, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Koraput. Following the technical session, a series of deliberations and a panel discussion focused on "Innovative Approaches in Carbon Farming" was organized. Dr. Pradip Dey, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Kolkata, chaired the panel, with Dr. K. Kannan, Head of the Division of Crop Production at ICAR-SBI, Coimbatore, serving as Co-Chair and Dr. Somasundaram Jayaraman, as Convenor. Scientists from the Central and State Organizations and research scholars participated in the panel deliberations.

In addition, research scholars were given the opportunity to observe ongoing field trials at the ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, aimed at reducing the carbon footprint in major vegetable crops. The workshop concluded with a plenary session and closing remarks. Dr. P. Raja, Dr. Sudheer Kumar Annepu and Dr. U Surendran are the organizing secretaries of the event.