Conference on legumes begins
The Sixth International Conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics (VI ICLGG) hosted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) opened here on Tuesday, bringing together more than 500 delegates from 44 countries, representing different disciplines of legume biology.
The conference is part of a series of earlier ICLGG conferences held in the US (twice), France, Australia and Mexico, and is the first to be organised in Asia.
“Grain legumes are a cost-effective option for improving the diets of low-income consumers who cannot easily afford meat, dairy products and fish,” Icrisat director general, William Dar, said in his inaugural address.
According to Dar, grain legumes contribute significantly towards reducing poverty, improving food security, improving nutrition and health, and sustaining the world’s natural resource base.
“The use of modern crop improvement technologies for grain legumes will be crucial to speed up the development of improved varieties that can provide high yields and improved livelihoods to smallholder farmers and at the same time meet the challenges of harsh environments and the threat of climate change," Dar added.
Swapan Datta, deputy director general (crop science) of ICAR, highlighted the role of legume crops in India’s food security. “Our country is the world’s largest producer and consumer of several legume crops, yet it is still a major importer of these crops,” he said.