XXXIII Annual Review Meeting of AICRP on Weed Management Inaugurated at Raipur

The XXXIII Annual Review Meeting of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Weed Management (AICRP-WM) was inaugurated on 12 May 2026 at the College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur. The three-day meeting, being held from 12 to 14 May 2026, is jointly organized by IGKV, Raipur and the ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur. The inaugural function was graced by Dr. A. K. Nayak, DDG (NRM), ICAR who attended as the Chief Guest. The programme was chaired by Dr. Girish Chandel, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, IGKV, Raipur. The Guests of Honour included Dr. P. K. Rai, Director, ICAR-NIBSM, Raipur and Dr. Rakesh Kumar, ADG (Agro., AF & CC), ICAR. Welcoming the gathering, Dr. Vivek Kumar Tripathi, DRS, IGKV, Raipur, highlighted the challenges of low crop productivity, limited crop diversification, and low farm income in Chhattisgarh. He noted that nearly two-thirds of the cultivated area in the state is under rice and that weeds remain a major biotic constraint, causing annual losses exceeding ₹10,000 crore. Subsequently, Dr. V. K. Choudhary presented the salient achievements of the AICRP-WM centres during the past year. In his introductory remarks, Dr. J. S. Mishra, Director, ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur, highlighted the major achievements of AICRP-WM and emphasized the need to address emerging challenges such as herbicide resistance and to develop weed management solutions for natural farming, regenerative agriculture, and conservation agriculture using advanced tools such as drones, artificial intelligence, and digital technologies.

In his address, Dr. Rakesh Kumar congratulated the AICRP-WM centres for their contributions and emphasized the need for systematic compilation, curation, and preservation of research data generated over the past five decades in accordance with ICAR’s Data Policy. He also urged scientists to focus on domain-specific priorities and emerging issues such as weed shifts under climate change and herbicide resistance. Dr. P. K. Rai highlighted the evolving trends in weed management, including drone-based herbicide application and the introduction of non-GM herbicide-tolerant rice. He also discussed the challenges of sustaining crop productivity under increasing biotic and abiotic stresses. In his presidential remarks, Dr. Girish Chandel emphasized the need to critically assess the potential negative effects of drone-based herbicide applications. He called for identifying research gaps that have emerged over the past 50–60 years and stressed the importance of improving the efficacy of weed management technologies under natural farming, organic farming, and regenerative agriculture systems. In his inaugural address, Dr. A. K. Nayak emphasized the importance of establishing robust data management systems encompassing data collection, storage, curation, and analysis to generate meaningful insights from historical weed research data. He advocated for making validated datasets available in the public domain after an appropriate period to enhance their wider utility and impact.

He highlighted critical knowledge gaps related to weed management under natural farming, organic farming, and regenerative agriculture, and underscored the need for location-specific data on the effects of glyphosate on target and non-target organisms. Referring to the increasing promotion of herbicide-tolerant rice, he stressed the need for dynamic stewardship guidelines for the judicious use of imazethapyr. He also emphasized the importance of analyzing long-term data to develop a strategic roadmap for addressing herbicide resistance and its relation with development of new herbicides and herbicide combinations. During the inaugural session, 11 publications on various aspects of weed science and weed management were released. The PAU, Ludhiana centre received the Best Centre Award for its outstanding contributions in the past one year. On the occasion, eminent weed scientists and retired Professor, Dr. Kohl and Dr. Samunder Singh, former president, International Society of Weed Science were felicitated in recognition of their distinguished contributions to weed science research and education. Altogether, 62 participants attended the inaugural programme, including scientists from 24 AICRP-WM centres across the country, scientists from ICAR-DWR and IGKV, representatives from pesticide industries and students.