Agricultural scientists are today compelled to tackle the twin challenges of meeting food demand under climate change and sustaining non-renewable energy resources.

P. Kalaiselvan, Registrar-in-charge at the Farm Varsity here, made this observation at the inaugural session of a three-day workshop on Capacity Building for Agricultural Production in Dryland Farming.

This ‘National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture’ (NICRA) project aims to cope with climate variability in dryland agriculture in Tamil Nadu.

Kalaiselvan urged young scientists to innovate on water conservation and watershed management by upscaling existing technologies.

He said a thorough understanding of climate change, agriculture and natural resource management had initiated the NICRA project. “It is being implemented by different KVKs and ICAR institutes.”