ITC MSK partners with ICAR-IIRR to promote climate smart farming

This industry-academia collaboration was aimed at strengthening ITC’s endeavours in soil and moisture conservation activities.

Kothagudem: Diversified conglomerate ITC as part of its social investments division, Mission Sunehra Kal (MSK) entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR).

This industry-academia collaboration was aimed at strengthening ITC’s endeavours in soil and moisture conservation activities. MSK, Telangana Division has been carrying out a plethora of supply side management initiatives such as area treatment, tank distillation and water storage structures like farm ponds.

---

The organisation has also been promoting water use efficiency in agriculture, cost of cultivation that promote cost effective farm mechanization technologies to help to realise climate smart and resilient agriculture, said a statement from ITC here on Friday.

To enhance water use efficiency and minimise dependency on water for arable crops like paddy, ICAR- IIRR, a nodal agency in research, would provide its technical guidance for direct seeded rice (DSR) technology application in ITC intervention project fields across Telangana and AP.

The programme includes training and capacity building for farmers, frontline extension members and those who practice the DSR technology with relevant and emerging trends in climate smart farming.

The signing of MoU that took place at Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad recently was attended by ICAR-IIRR Director Meenakshi Sundaram, crop improvement division head Dr. LV Subba Rao, ITC MSK regional manager Manjunath, its Telangana programme manager, Jaya Prakash Ramasamy and agriculture anchor leads Hemant and Sarvesh.