Workshop delves on perils of climate change
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, August 01 2025: A one-day workshop on "Transforming Food, Land, and Water (FLW) Systems to Combat the Current Climate Crisis in Manipur " was held on Friday at the Conference Hall of Loktak Farmers' Training Hostel, Lamphelpat.

The workshop was organised by ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Manipur Centre, Lamphelpat.

As chief guest of the workshop, Agriculture director Peter Salam stated that due to climate change, floods have been occurring more frequently in the state.

He mentioned that in Bishnupur district, many paddy fields' were damaged by floods, adversely affecting both farmers and government departments.

To support affected farmers, the Agriculture Department has taken measures such as providing paddy seeds (phoudi) and distributing fertilisers.

He further emphasised the need for long-term planning, suggesting that appropriate measures should be devised for flood-affected areas - such as selecting suitable crops - while also determining resilient crops for drought-prone regions.

He assured that the Agriculture Department, ICAR, and Central Agricultural University (CAU) would consider these factors in future initiatives.

The director added that a one-day workshop on climate change is insufficient to address the needs of the people.

As part of ongoing efforts, an expert committee meeting has been convened not only to implement schemes from the Government of India but also to develop a Manipur-specific long-term plan for farmers' welfare.

He stressed that the impacts of climate change are evident and must be taken seriously.

The event was also attended by Dr Ch Basudha Devi, HORC, ICAR Manipur Centre; Dr T Brajakumar Singh, director, Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Manipur; K Devdutta Sharma, director of Horticulture and Soil Conservation; Dr I Meghachandra Singh, former joint director, ICAR Manipur; and Prof N Rajmuhon Singh, former vice-chancellor, Dhanamanjuri University, as president, guests of honour, and special guest respectively.

The technical sessions comprised two main segments.

The first session, chaired by Dr T Brajakumar Singh with rapporteurs Dr Ayam Gangarani and Dr Aruna Beemrote, featured three presentations.

Dr I Meghachandra Singh, former joint director of ICAR Manipur Centre, spoke on Climate-Smart Food-Nutrition System Transformation', while Prof Ksh Lal Bihari Singha from Manipur University's Department of Life Sciences addressed Carbon Farming and Climate Financing for Smallholders '.

Dr Sarda Maibam, assistant professor at Manipur University's Department of Earth Science, presented a paper on 'Watershed-Based Resilience and Integrated Natural Resource Management'.

The second technical session was chaired by Dr I Meghachandra Singh with rapporteurs Dr E Lamalakshmi Devi and Dr Konsam Sarika.

This session included a presentation by Dr T Brajakumar Singh on 'Food-Land-Water Nexus and Integrated Planning Tools', followed by Prof L Nabachandra Singh from CAU's College of Agriculture discussing Frontier Technologies for Climate Resilient FLW Systems'.

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Prof N Rajmuhon Singh and co-chaired by Prof L Nabachandra Singh.

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