Key stakeholders, including government officials, industry leaders, and ICRISAT scientists, attended the panel discussion.
A delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Telangana engaged in a focused panel discussion and interactive session with ICRISAT to explore collaboration opportunities in agriculture and food processing in Hyderabad. Key stakeholders, including government officials, industry leaders, and ICRISAT scientists, attended.
The interactive session held at the ICRISAT auditorium focused on exploring collaborative opportunities. It featured insights from M Raghunandan Rao, IAS, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana; Dr Krishna Ella, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech; and Dr Stanford Blade, Interim Director General and Deputy Director General-Research at ICRISAT; Prof V Praveen Rao, Advisor, CII Telangana Agri & Food Processing Panel & Vice-Chancellor; Kaveri University and D Sunil Reddy, Co-Convenor, CII Telangana Agri & Food Processing Panel & Managing Director Dodla Dairy Pvt. Ltd
M Raghunandan Rao, IAS, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana, said that mechanisation of agriculture will increase efficiencies, and value addition will increase sustainability. Farmers could come together and opt for mechanization. Farming has to provide social benefits to the population as it has to be an environmental system. In the Indian context, where farm sizes are small, sustainability discussions must prioritise farmers. Our efforts should focus on creating systems that ensure sustainable incomes for smallholder farmers.
Dr Stanford Blade, Interim Director General and Deputy Director General-Research at ICRISAT, remarked, “ICRISAT and CII are natural partners in advancing agricultural and food processing innovation. The combined strengths of ICRISAT’s research expertise and CII’s strong connections with industry, government, and civil society offer great potential for driving sustainable development in India’s agricultural sector.”
Dr Krishna Ella, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Bharat Biotech International Ltd., said that in the Indian context, given that our farmers are large and our farms are small, we must build algorithms and concepts that will keep the sustainability of the farmer’s income in mind. He stressed the need for convergence in agriculture, particularly amid reduced funding. He urged government intervention to foster partnerships between state agricultural universities and ICRISAT, advocating for collaboration, streamlining, and consolidation to optimise resources and impact.
Sai Prasad, Chairman of CII Telangana and Executive Director at Bharat Biotech International Ltd., invited ICRISAT to join CII’s Food and Agriculture Panel. He emphasized leveraging ICRISAT’s research capabilities for Telangana.
Prof. V Praveen Rao, Advisor to the CII Telangana Agri & Food Processing Panel, highlighted the transformative potential of nurturing small enterprises. He stated that with 6.5 million farmers in Telangana, even enabling 0.1 million Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could significantly improve livelihoods.
D Sunil Reddy, Co-Convenor of the CII Telangana Agri & Food Processing Panel and Managing Director of Dodla Dairy Pvt. Ltd said that we have to look at not only production but also aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste disposal.
