ICRISAT Happenings (13 Dec 2013)

ICRISAT

Happenings In-house Newsletter

13 December 2013 No. 1601

Photo: PS Rao, ICRISAT

Karnataka’s Honorable State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Krishna Byre Gowda delivering his address as Chief Guest at the 41st annual day celebration. Sharing the dais with him are (from left to right) Dr CLL Gowda, Mr KMK Mukherjee, Dr Dar, Mr SV Ranganath and Mr SS Sharat Kumar.

ICRISAT @ 41

Celebrating partnerships and milestones for a prosperous and resilient dryland agriculture

T

he power of sustainable partnership and convergence in pursuing science-led development to benefit smallholder farmers in the drylands was the highlight of ICRISAT’s 41st annual day celebration held at the headquarters on 9 December. Bhoochetana or land rejuvenation – an innovative partnership program between ICRISAT, the Government of Karnataka (GoK), India and other local and international institutions – was recognized as this year’s Outstanding Research Partnership Awardee for Asia. “Bhoochetana started with 0.2 million hectares in the first year and by the fourth year, has grown to cover 3.75 million hectares, with 4.75 million farming families harnessing the benefits of the program through increased agricultural productivity. The estimated net economic gains from Bhoochetana of around US$ 230 million prove that the potential of dryland agriculture can be unlocked to transform peoples’ lives through partnership and convergence,”

said Karnataka’s Honorable State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Krishna Byre Gowda. Speaking as Chief Guest at the annual day celebration, Mr Byre Gowda also thanked ICRISAT “for selecting the Karnataka state to put to the test the Inclusive MarketOriented Development (IMOD) strategy for reducing poverty and achieving food security sustainably, with very positive results.” This years’ Outstanding Partnership Award for Asia was shared by the GoK-Bhoochetana team with the ICRISAT Bhoochetana team led by Dr Suhas Wani, Principal Scientist (Watersheds) and Acting Research Program Director for Resilient Dryland Systems. “Our partnership with the Government of Karnataka is unique as it showed the world that achieving impact lies in translating inclusiveness and convergence into action, with all partners working together for the benefit of smallholder, marginal farmers,” said ICRISAT Director General Dr William D. Dar. to page 2 ...4