Bhubaneswar: The DIVERSIFARM-India Multi-Stakeholder Workshop recently took place at the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar, bringing together key agricultural figures to address seed resilience and climate adaptation.
Shri Sachin Ramachandra Jadhav, Commissioner-cum-Secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, delivered the keynote address, emphasizing the crucial contribution community seed banks make toward securing nutrition and food supplies for smallholder farmers throughout Odisha.
Demonstrating a strong pledge to sustainable agricultural advancement, Shri Jadhav committed to establishing regular quarterly meetings with representatives from the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation.
These recurring collaborative sessions aim to co-create practical solutions and construct a supportive legal and policy framework to expand and fortify community seed bank operations statewide.
Through this strategic partnership, state leadership and agricultural research institutions are working in tandem to build climate-resilient seed infrastructure, advance agroecological farming techniques, and safeguard fundamental farmers rights across local agricultural communities.