LONDON: UK minister visits ICRISAT, discusses climate action

LONDON: Premier Hyderabad-based agri research centre, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), on Thursday said Lord Tariq Ahmad, minister of state for South Asia and the Commonwealth in the UK government, led a high-level delegation to discuss climate-resilient agriculture and biodiversity during his visit to the institute.

Lord Ahmad toured ICRISAT’s field experiments, water and biodiversity management facilities, genomics facilities and the genebank. The minister was briefed about the changes in the behaviour of crops, pests and diseases that can occur with rising carbon dioxide levels.

“This year, as we host COP26 in Glasgow, sustainable agricultural practices and technologies are an important issue for the UK. My visit to ICRISAT is to explore future collaboration in this regard and an opportunity to see how ICRISAT is catalysing productivity and prosperity in the semi-arid tropics in the face of climate change,” he said.

“Climate change threatens to compromise food systems and disrupt lives. We are committed to making smallholder farming in the drylands resilient to climate shocks,” said Jacqueline Hughes, director general, ICRISAT.