27th Research Advisory Committee Meeting of ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur Organized

The 27th Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Meeting of ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur was organized during 04-05 June 2026 in hybrid mode. The meeting was Chaired by Dr Samunder Singh, Ex-Professor and Head, Department of Agronomy, CCSHAU, Hisar and immediate past president of International Weed Science Society. Other members were: Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Assistant Director General (A, AF&CC), ICAR, Dr. D.R. Palsaniya, Head, Division of Crop Production, ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi, Dr. Amit Kar, Ex Head, Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, Dr. Sushil Kumar, Ex Principal Scientist, ICAR-DWR, Jabalpur, Dr. R. Elanchezhian, Principal Scientist, Plant Physiology, ICAR-IISS, Bhopal, Dr. Shekhar Varshney, South Asia Regulatory and Stewardship, Corteva AgriScience.

Dr. JS Mishra, Director, ICAR-DWR while welcoming the RAC highlighted the research accomplishment of the Directorate for the year 2025-26 and various ambitious programmes of ICAR and Govt. of India linking with sustainable weed management and livelihood improvement across the country. Dr. V.K. Choudhary, Member Secretary, presented the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the recommendations of the previous RAC meeting, which was subsequently approved by the Committee. The scientists of the Directorate presented their salient research findings of the year 2025-26, which was appreciated by the RAC.

The Committee also visited the field and laboratories, interacted with the scientists and appreciated the kind of research being taken up by the Directorate. After 2-days deliberations and discussion, it was suggested by the RAC that in view of the emerging challenges in agriculture, weed management research programmes in the areas of weed mapping, precision weed management using artificial intelligence, herbicide resistance mechanism and management, impact of climate change on weeds and herbicide efficiency, biological control of invasive weeds, weed management using drones, AI and machine learning, impact assessment of weed management technologies etc. need to be strengthened. The meeting ended with vote of thanks proposed by Dr. V.K. Choudhary, Member Secretary, RAC.