CSIR-IHBT, Palampur hosted a Summit on Smart & Sustainable Agriculture

The CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur hosted a
Summit on Smart & Sustainable Agriculture on April 22, 2025.
Prof. Rajat Sandhir, Director, PU-IIT Ropar Regional Accelerator for Holistic
Innovations (PI-RAHI) highlighted the role of smart & sustainable agriculture and
its need in the changing time. He detailed about the summit objectives and
stressed on adopting latest technologies that are not only environment friendly
but also user friendly.
Mr V R Lazaga, Vice-Chairman, Cooperative Development Authority, Network for
the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC),
Philippines, deliberated upon the role of NEDAC that has a prime focus on
bringing together small rural producers to form large business ventures for
exporting a wide range of agricultural products. 
Mr Jyoti Saroop, Unati Co-operative Marketing-cum-Processing Society Ltd.,
Talwara, Punjab shared his views on how cooperatives have a key role to play in
such initiatives.
Prior to this, Dr. Sudesh Kumar Yadav, Director CSIR-IHBT presented the welcome
address and dwelled in the detail about the bioresource based activities being
carried out in the institute. He emphasized that through CSIR mission
programmes like the Aroma Mission, Floriculture Mission, Phytopharmaceutical
Mission; the institute has been able to sustainably boost the bioeconomy of the
region through the formation of farmer clusters and by linking them to the
industry.
Participants from 10 states including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh
participated in the programme.