Ludhiana: PAU hosts national meet on climate-smart agriculture
Experts, researchers and agro-meteorologists discuss strategies for resilient farming and extreme weather management
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) witnessed an inspiring start to the three-day annual group meeting of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Agro-Meteorology (AICRPAM) as agro-meteorologists, researchers and experts from across India gathered to discuss the future of climate-smart agriculture.
Organised by the department of agricultural meteorology and climate change (DAMCC), the meet drew participants from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. A five-day capacity-building programme will follow from December 1 to 5.
The inaugural session also recognised centres excelling in agro-meteorological research. The AICRPAM centres at Samastipur (Bihar), Bengaluru (Karnataka), and Ludhiana (Punjab) were honoured with the best AICRP Centres Award for their contributions to research, innovation and field outreach.
Addressing the gathering, AK Nayak, deputy director general (natural resource management), ICAR, emphasised the urgent need for research in climate-affected areas, development of micro-climatic strategies, improved weather-based forecasting, and early warning systems to alert farmers about rainfall, drought, hailstorms, heat and cold waves, and pest or disease outbreaks.
VK Singh, director, CRIDA, Hyderabad, highlighted the need for a holistic approach to tackle long-term impacts of extreme weather, urging scientists to broaden research beyond crop production to address meteorological uncertainties for India’s vision of “Viksit Bharat”.
AS Dhatt, director of research at PAU, reflected on Punjab’s historic role in the Green Revolution and national food security. He cautioned that decades of monoculture and climate change have intensified challenges, citing the 2015 cotton whitefly infestation and floods in 2023 and 2025. Collaborative efforts, he said, are essential to improve technologies and create climate-based models.
CS Aulakh, Dean, College of Agriculture, stressed that unpredictable weather threatens farmers’ livelihoods, advocating for economic loss assessment and climate-resilient technologies.
Dr SK Bal, project coordinator, outlined AICRPAM’s priorities, including an agro-climatic atlas, decision support systems, and improved agromet advisory services, noting the network of 25 regular and 5 voluntary centres across 21 states and one UT.
Welcoming delegates, PK Khingra, head of DAMCC, spoke of socio-economic stress from fluctuating weather, while PK Sidhu underlined the need for guidelines on managing cold waves, heat waves and hailstorms in Punjab.
The inaugural day also saw the release of four publications: Annual report on agro-meteorology, broad spectrum of climate change in Assam, climate change in West Bengal and forty years of achievements of Ludhiana AICRP Centre.
The Punjab Agricultural University hosted the annual All India Coordinated Research Project on Agro-Meteorology meeting, gathering experts to address climate-smart agriculture. The event included awards for outstanding research centers and emphasized urgent research needs in climate-affected areas. Following the meeting, a capacity-building program will run from December 1 to 5, highlighting Punjab's role in national food security.