📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Tisha Mukherjee
Agriculture
Assam Hosts National Summit on Plant Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture
✍️ India Today NE
🗓 28 Sep 2026, 08:47 PM
👁 15
A national summit was convened in Assam to explore plant biotechnology as a driver of next‑generation sustainable farming practices across India.
Assam became the venue for a high‑level national summit focused on leveraging plant biotechnology to enhance sustainable agriculture. Delegates from research institutions, biotech firms, farmer organisations and government agencies gathered to share recent advances and chart a roadmap for wider adoption.
The agenda covered emerging techniques such as gene editing, stress‑tolerant crop varieties and bio‑fortification, with an emphasis on reducing chemical inputs and improving resilience to climate variability. Participants highlighted the potential of these tools to boost yields while conserving natural resources in regions vulnerable to erratic rainfall.
Organisers underscored the need for coordinated policy support, funding mechanisms and capacity‑building programmes to translate laboratory breakthroughs into field‑level solutions. The summit concluded with a consensus to develop a national framework that integrates plant biotech research with farmer outreach, aiming to accelerate the transition to eco‑friendly agricultural practices.
Stakeholders pledged to monitor progress through periodic reviews and to foster collaborations between public and private sectors, positioning India to meet its food security goals sustainably.
The agenda covered emerging techniques such as gene editing, stress‑tolerant crop varieties and bio‑fortification, with an emphasis on reducing chemical inputs and improving resilience to climate variability. Participants highlighted the potential of these tools to boost yields while conserving natural resources in regions vulnerable to erratic rainfall.
Organisers underscored the need for coordinated policy support, funding mechanisms and capacity‑building programmes to translate laboratory breakthroughs into field‑level solutions. The summit concluded with a consensus to develop a national framework that integrates plant biotech research with farmer outreach, aiming to accelerate the transition to eco‑friendly agricultural practices.
Stakeholders pledged to monitor progress through periodic reviews and to foster collaborations between public and private sectors, positioning India to meet its food security goals sustainably.