New Delhi, 13 September (H.S.): The three-day Dryland Congress 2026 concluded here today with the unanimous adoption of the ‘Delhi Declaration on Dryland Agriculture’, based on a shared agenda of science, advanced innovation and robust data systems to make farming sustainable in drought-prone and low-rainfall regions.

During the conference, several key agreements were signed between institutions, including the Global Crop Diversity Trust and Wipro, aimed at strengthening agriculture. Institutions and scientists selected from among 170 nominations across 34 countries were also honoured with the ISSCA Global Awards 2026, while 16 researchers received awards for the Best Poster presentations.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare said that the three-day event, organised under the theme ‘Transforming Dryland Agriculture through South-South Cooperation’, essentially served as an international platform for agricultural regions grappling with water scarcity and drought. Scientists, policymakers and institutions from across the world came together to deliberate on concrete measures for achieving higher productivity with less water, developing technologies to address climate change, and safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods.

Addressing the valedictory session, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr. M.L. Jat, said agricultural policies for drought-prone regions must incorporate future requirements. He stressed the need for a strong institutional framework and said the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research would be entrusted with the responsibility of preparing a future-oriented agricultural action plan for the sector. He also emphasised the development of laboratories that could connect research, agricultural practices and policymaking.

Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said drought-prone regions are strategically crucial from the perspective of global food security. Calling for the deliberations of the Congress to be translated into action on the ground, he said it was imperative to bring together expertise, scientific knowledge and mutual partnerships on a common platform to transform concepts into actual implementation.

During the conference, ICRISAT signed Memoranda of Understanding with Avior Life Sciences, the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Wipro Limited, and the district administrations of Angul and Rayagada in Odisha.

Congress co-chairs Dr. D.K. Yadav and Dr. Stanford Blade presented the key recommendations emerging from the three-day sessions.

Earlier, a special session was organised to mark the United Nations’ Day for South-South Cooperation, during which messages from the UN Secretary-General, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), were read out. Representatives from Ethiopia, Senegal, Brazil, China and India shared their experiences in scaling up successful agricultural models.

In the Transformative Excellence category of the global awards, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) of Lebanon, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) of Mexico, and the Government of Odisha’s Odisha Livelihoods Mission were honoured.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar