Amity Institute of Organic Agriculture, AUUP organized a National Workshop jointly with ICAR-NIAP (National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research) on 31st August 2019. The session started with the felicitation of the guests, Dr Suresh Pal, Director, ICAR-NIAP and Sh. Chhabilendra Roul, Secretary Fertilizer, Ministry of Fertilizer by Honorable Vice-Chancellor of AUUP, Dr. Balvinder Shukla and Dr Naleeni Ramawat, Director, AIOA.
Dr. Naleeni Ramawat (Director, AIOA), welcomed the participants and briefed about the purpose of the workshop.
Dr. Suresh Pal (Director ICAR-NIAP) addressed the delegates and audience. He focused on the growth of agriculture sector and its sustainability. He stated that more than 100 different indicators have been identified for attaining agricultural sustainability and the data was compiled by ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP). At the end of his address he thanked Shri Chhabilendra Roul for his guidance and immense support.
Shri Chhabilendra Roul (Secretary Fertilizer, Ministry of Fertilizer) spoke Agricultural Sustainability Indicators, various methods of identifying sustainable indicators and weight determination. He had also explained that quantifiable indicators of the environmental sustainability are an important tool for helping the world toward a sustainable food future. Indicators enable policymakers and farmers to better understand current conditions, identify trends, set targets, monitor progress, and compare performance between regions.
Dr. Balvinder Shukla, Honorable Vice-Chancellor, AUUP emphasized the importance of agricultural sustainability, requirement of food grains in India, how cropping patterns are changing and the concerns of decreasing water table. She spoke about how Amity University and Shri Chhabilendra Roul were united to organize these workshops and continue this association and congratulates him for his work.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad (Principal Scientist, ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi) began the technical session with his presentation on “Methodology for Constructing the Index for Sustainable Agriculture”. He had explained the different methods for constructing the indices for sustainable agriculture and had also discussed the several statistical methods that can be utilized for successfully analyzing sustainability indicators.
The indicators were presented by Dr. Prem Chand (Sr. Scientist) NIAP and his Research Associates. All the indicators (Soil, Water, Environmental and Socio-economic) were discussed, analyzed and concluded in technical sessions. The session was chaired by Sh. Chhabilendra Roul, Secretary, Ministry of Fertilizers. Participants of the workshop were given a data sheet comprised of list of all indicators and their components for assigning weights. Each indicator was discussed by delegates and panelists present in the workshop and were assigned weights. By filling the data sheet, a comprehensive quality data can be further generated for determining the final weights given to various components.