An Industry Meet was organized by the ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur on January 31, 2024 at the DWR Jabalpur to strengthen the collaboration with herbicide industries to address the emerging challenges in weed management. Dr. J. S. Mishra, the Director of ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur, chaired the program and provided an overview of the institute’s research activities to the participants.
A total of 32 participants, including 20 delegates from 16 National and Multi-national Agro-chemical industries took part in the meeting. The interaction between scientific staff and industrial delegates proved fruitful, leading to the identification of major researchable action points. These include the development of a dynamic weed map of India, enhancement of technical knowledge for farmers, agrochemical dealers, retailers, and other stakeholders, exploration of bio-herbicides, implementation of drone-based herbicide application, and investigation into the biological control of aquatic weeds etc.
Dr. Mishra, Director, ICAR-DWR, emphasized the exploration of avenues to secure Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to enhance research and development activities through public-private partnerships. Additionally, there were one-to-one interactions between industrial delegates and the Director of the Institute, aimed at exploring other research-based options in collaboration with specific agro-industries. The program was coordinated by Dr. V. K. Choudhary, Principal Scientist-Agronomy, and co-chaired by Dr. P. K. Singh, Principal Scientist-Agricultural Extension. The event was deemed highly successful and concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Deepak Pawar, Scientist-Agricultural Biotechnology.
