93 research outputs found
Presidential Lecture of Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General(ICAR), - XVI Agricultural Science Congress 2023
No full textPresidential Lecture of Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General(ICAR), on the occasion of the inauguration of XVI Agricultural Science Congress 202
Analysis of drivers of agricultural growth, feminization of agriculture and crop modeling tools: Capacity building workshop for the taskforce members of the Renewable Natural Resources (RNR) Strategy 2040 for Bhutan
No full textThe Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF), Royal Government of Bhutan, had formed a taskforce with members from all sub-sectors and agencies under the Ministry to formulate the RNR1 Strategy 2040 by June 2020. The RNR Strategic Document 2040 will serve as an input to the national level strategic document that the Gross National Happiness Commission is currently formulating. However, to undertake this important task of sectoral envisioning, there exists a technical gap in terms of human resource capacity with respect to various economic analysis required to prepare a long-term strategy. To bridge this gap, a customized training on landscape planning, scenario analysis, and envisioning is deemed crucial to enable and enhance the taskforce to develop the Strategic vision for RNR sector. To fill this gap, MoAF and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) collaborated to utilize IFPRI’s knowledge services in developing capacity of the taskforce members. The primary aim of the collaboration is to enable the taskforce in doing evidencebased research. IFPRI will play an important role as knowledge partner to MoAF to provide technical support to the taskforce members in analysing data, implement economic modelling tools using national-level data and simulate it with various alternative policy scenarios. In addition, research team from IFPRI is also responsible to critically review the strategic document and to provide necessary feedback to make the document scientific, evidence-based and implementable.Non-PRIFPRI5; CRP7; Capacity Strengthening; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; G Cross-cutting gender themeSARCGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS
Budget gives short shrift to agriculture
No full textThis year’s Budget had four broad themes — (i) PM Gati Shakti, (ii) Inclusive Development, (iii) Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action and (iv) Financing of Investments.Non-PRIFPRI5; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesSA
Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICAR and Dr. Joykrushna Jena, Deputy Director General of ICAR, visited ICAR-CMFRI on 12th October 2023
No full textDr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICAR and Dr. Joykrushna Jena, Deputy Director General of ICAR, visited ICAR-CMFRI on 12th October 2023
RNR STRATEGY 2040: Bhutan-IFPRI collaboration and beyond
No full textThe agriculture sector in Bhutan has evolved progressively from subsistence to integrated semi-commercial sector, and encompasses forestry, agriculture, and livestock, collectively termed as Renewable Natural Resources (RNR). Systematic development since the 1960s has helped improve production of crops, livestock, and overall management of natural resources. Agriculture continues to be a major source of employment after five decades of planned development, with a staggering 51 percent of its population in farming, of which 61.7 percent are female (NSB 2019). Bhutan has also successfully maintained 71 percent of its natural forest cover (FRMD 2018), representing extensive carbon sequestration sink and making the country carbon-negative. Bhutan’s “green” approach to development, founded on the philosophy of Gross National Happiness and more particularly its local values, culture, and religious beliefs of coexistence with nature, has helped in maintaining remarkably stable forest cover and clean environment. Forest cover in Bhutan consists predominantly of broad-leaved trees accounting for 50 percent coverage (1.928 million ha), while 20 percent cover is provided by coniferous trees. The estimated forest biomass of about 973 million tonnes serves as a significant terrestrial carbon sink, amounting to 457 million tonnes of carbon (FRMD 2018). The forests of Bhutan show a wide range of ecological variation and species diversity offering wide variety of social and economic benefits, ranging from easily quantifiable economic values associated with forest products to less tangible services and contributions to society, thereby serving as the foundation of sustainable development. This initiative of collaboration resulted into formalization of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF) and IFPRI on July 19, 2019, that defines the areas of cooperation between the two institutions. Since the initiation of this MoU in late 2018, MoAF and IFPRI started working on the collaboration which focused on capacity development of MoAF in policy analysis and visioning. This report aims to provide synopsis of MoAF–IFPRI collaborations from 2018 to 2020, highlighting the main output and defining areas of future collaborations.Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; CRP7SAR; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Climate change induced salinity intrusion and its implications for agriculture
No full textAn estimated 1.06 million hectare of arable land in Bangladesh and 6.7 million hectares in India is affected by salinity (Rabbani 2013). Salinity intrusion adversely affects the livelihoods of farmers, especially rice cultivators and fisherfolks, vegetations, soil quality, and infrastructure in these areas (Habiba et al. 2014). The net cropped area in coastal Bangladesh has been decreasing over the last few years due to several factors and many studies have identified salinity as the chief cause for yield reduction in coastal agriculture (Baten 2015). Groundwater contamination due to saline water and similar adverse impacts on agriculture and livelihoods are also increasing in coastal India, especially in Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh (Naidu et al. 2013). The extent and intensity of salinity in the coming years are likely to increase due to climate change induced saltwater intrusion.Non-PRIFPRI5; CRP7SARCGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS
Impacts of COVID-19-induced national lockdown on agriculture and rural livelihoods in India: A macro perspective
No full textIn the last year and a half, COVID-19 has disrupted economies and livelihoods across the world, as well as causing large-scale infections and deaths. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse the economic impacts of COVID-19-induced lockdowns in India, with an emphasis on the agricultural sector and rural economy. The study has found that although, production, growth, and trade were affected less adversely in the agricultural sector than in the other sectors; the lockdowns had huge bearing on unemployment, incomes, and consumption in both rural and urban areas. The findings also indicate that the people in the urban areas suffered more than those in the rural areas; and that people in the bottom quintile were more adversely affected than those in the top quintile. COVID-19 thus worsened the already slow economy, and post-lockdown, it is yet to fully recover.PRIFPRI3; IFPRI-ICAR; CRP2; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and GovernanceSAR; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Workshop report: A training program on the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT)
No full textThe CCAFS project team at IFPRI in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) team organized a 5-day capacity building workshop at the ICAR - National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP). The workshop was conducted on IFPRI’s IMPACT model and was attended by scientists and senior scientists working in various ICAR institutes, particularly in NIAP. The training course introduced the IMPACT methodology, theory and scenario design to the participants. The course helped them gain an understanding on scenarios and scenario analysis. Participants learned how to use the network of models that make up IMPACT, how each module work and how they interact. They further learned to use IMPACT simulations, to design and run scenarios in IMPACT, and access and use IMPACT results correctly.Non-PRIFPRI5; CRP7; Capacity Strengthening; CRP2SAR; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Spectrum of spondyloarthritis
Full text linkSpondyloarthritis (SpA) comprises a group of related diseases which share similar pathogenesis and clinical manifestations. Although the occurrence of SpA spectrum disorders has been known for some time, it was only in the latter half of the twentieth century that the concept of SpA was formally defined. Advances in radiography and magnetic resonance imaging techniques have led to the development of classification criteria which have aided early diagnosis and effective management. This narrative review summaries the latest developments in our understanding of the concept of SpA
Hidden in plain sight: Camera tracking markers forvirtual production setups
No full textWith a large move to virtual production in films, where a large screen displaying a rendered scene is used as an alternative to replacing a green screen, there is a need for simple and effective camera tracking. Infrared tracking is widely used in the industry however it creates a barrier to entry for small productions without limited budgets. As an alternative, visual tracking markers (tags) can be used however they come with limitations as they are highly visible and distract the viewer from the film. This paper aims to answer "Can camera tracking fiducial markers (tags) be blended into the background to reduce their visibility whilst still being tracked?". We describe a method to find locations where tags can be placed to reduce their obtrusiveness. Additionally, we explore various blending methods to blend tags whilst retaining their tracking capability. Our findings indicate that blending methods are effective in reducing the visibility of tags yet still be detected but improvements are needed in determining the optimal blending method for different scenarios.CSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
- …
