Up-scaling of Quality Protein Maize (QPM) for Nutrition Security

NEW DELHI: A two-day  brainstorming workshop on “Up-scaling Quality Protein Maize for Nutrition Security” was held on ICAR.

In his inaugural address, Dr. S. Ayyappan, Secretary, DARE and Director General, ICAR called upon maize scientists  and seed producing agencies to work together in order to take the maize technology and innovations to farmers. Dr. Ayyappan urged maize stands out amidst all other crops by way of having highest growth rate and asked to develop the roadmap for QPM.

Dr. R.S. Paroda, Chairman, emphasized that QPM can now play a major role in addressing the grave issues of hidden hunger among significant population of country.

Dr. S.K. Vasal, distinguished maize scientist, speaking as guest of honour, outlined the story of development of QPM and highlighted the potential role that QPM can play in food and feed sector.

Dr. H.S. Gupta, DG BISA stressed that promotion of QPM technology should be a high priority to address the malnourishment of under-privileged people especially children, women and students.

The global and Indian status of QPM research and development was reviewed by Dr. B.M. Prasanna and Dr. O.P. Yadav, respectively.

During the workshop eight technical sessions were organized in which all aspects to promote and further improve QPM were discussed in order to identify the gaps in adoption and to prepare a roadmap to further upscale QPM.

The workshop was jointly organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Borlaug institute for South Asia (BISA) and Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (ISGPB).

More than 100 participants from public as well as private sector, government agencies, progressive farmers, seed producing agencies etc. attended the workshop. Dr. NN Singh, proposed vote of thanks.