ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) has organized the 26th Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting during December 22-23rd, 2021. The RAC Meeting was organized under the Chairmanship of Dr D P Ray, Ex -VC, OUAT, Bhubaneshwar. The members included Dr SK Tikkoo, Fmr Principal Scientist, IIHR, Bangalore, Dr.R K Jain, Ex-Dean, IARI, Dr.D P. Waskar, Director (Res), VNMKV, Parbhani, Dr.GA Ravishankar, Vice President, Dayanand Sagar Institutions, Bangalore, Dr.K.V Bhat, Ex- Pr Scientist, NBPGR, New Delhi, Dr.J C Dagar, Ex- ADG, NRM, ICAR and Dr Vikramaditya Pandey, ADG (HS-I), ICAR, Dr BNS Murthy, Director, ICAR-IIHR and Dr E.Sreenivasa Rao, Member Secretary. Nodal Officer PME, Heads of Divisions and regional stations and all scientists of the institute participated in the meeting.
The RAC started with welcome address by Director, ICAR-IIHR. The Chairman and Members of RAC shared their views and suggested strategies towards planning and implementation of need-based research programmes. ADG (HS-I), ICAR highlighted the need to prioritise and cull out-dated programs in view of resource crunch. Then, Director, ICAR-IIHR presented about significant achievements of the institute for the last year. This was followed by Action Taken Report of recommendations of 25th RAC by Dr TS Aghora, Nodal Officer, PME Cell. This was followed by presentations by the Heads of the Divisions on achievements for year 2020 and proposed future line of work.
On 23rd Dec, 2021 a virtual field visit was organised where 15 farmers from different states of the country joined the meeting live from their fields and shared their experience on adopting IIHR varieties and technologies. This was followed by presentations of regional stations (CHES, BBSR and Chettalli) and KVKs. There were special presentations on progress in PG education, Seed and planting material, mushroom technology and commercialistion of IIHR technologies. During the plenary session, the Chairman and Members of the RAC offered their closing remarks. The inputs from all the presentations and remarks will be finalized as the recommendations of the 26th RAC. The RAC meeting came to an end with the formal vote of thanks proposed by Dr TS Aghora, Nodal Officer, PME Cell.
