The Sixth Annual Review Workshop of AICRPDA-NICRA was held at ICAR-CRIDA during 25-26 May, 2018 with the objective to review the progress of the 23 centres during 2017-18 and to develop technical programme for 2018-19. Dr. S. Bhaskar, ADG (AAF&CC), NRM Division, ICAR, Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director (Acting), ICAR-CRIDA, Dr. Vilas A. Tonapi, Director, ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad, Dr. A. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Director, ICAR-IIOR, Hyderabad, Dr. Dr. G. Ravindra Chary, Project Coordinator (Dryland Research),Dr. M. Prabhakar, PI (NICRA), Dr. P. Vijaya Kumar, PC, AICRPAM, Heads of  Divisions & Sections, KVK and sections & scientists from CRIDA 7PC Unit, AICRPDA, and Chief scientists/ scientists from 23 AICRPDA Centres participated.

        During the Inaugural session on 25th May 2018, Dr. Bhaskar appreciated the contributions of AICRPDA centres in implementation of location-specific real time contingency technologies to cope with weather aberrations and their validation in farmers’ fields , further he  emphasized on the need for horizontal expansion of real-time contingency plans (RTCPs) implementation with the concept of  NICRA Clusters. Dr. K. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Director, ICAR-IIOR suggested for collaborative implementation of different interventions particularly the short duration and drought tolerant varieties of different oilseed crops through seed minikits. Dr. Vilas A. Tonapi, Director, ICAR-IIMR opined that  a range of varieties of different millets with different maturity groups are available that could be assessed under real-time  weather aberrations across AICRPDA centres. Dr. K. Sammi Reddy, Director, ICAR-CRIDA emphasized that the RTCP implementation is essential to cope with weather aberrations and he also suggested to compile the data and publish the results in reputed journals. Dr. M. Prabhakar PI, NICRA, suggested to document the success stories and carry out impact analysis of different interventions. Dr. G. Ravindra Chary, Project Coordinator (Dryland Research), while welcoming the participants, briefed about the aim of the workshop and presented the overall progress of AICRPDA-NICRA. During the occasion, three publications from PC Unit and AICRPDA centres were released. Dr. K.A. Gopinath, Principal Scientist (Agronomy), PC Unit, AICRPDA proposed vote of thanks.

              The major outcome of the deliberations during the workshop was to strengthen research on coping midseason drought, RTCP implementation on cluster basis and evaluation of  millet and oilseed crops as climate resilient crops in strong cooperation with ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research and ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research.