Food Security is part of National Security: ICAR

Hyderabad, May 30 (UNI) Stressing that food security is an integral part of national security, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Mangala Rai said the patent regime thus becomes an important element in national security.

Addressing the concluding session of the three-day workshop on IP and Technology Management in ICAR system here, he said that to bring the Indian farmers towards subsistence with the transfer of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enabled technologies through commercial, cooperative and public routes, ICAR had recognised the need for becoming competitive in IPRs.

Dr Rai, also the Union Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) Secretary, emphasised that IP and technology management should become an integral part of UG curriculum in agricultural sciences and could also be a PG specialisation.

He exhorted the scientists to adopt ''out of the box'' approach to carry out work on researchable issues, with the nation in mind.

He stressed the need to document and validate resources and related traditional knowledge.

Delivering the presidential address, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) Director S M Ilyas said IP and technology management were essential components of agricultural research. NAARM proposed to organise several regional workshops to develop human resources in National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in the area of IP. This training workshop was the first attempt to sensitise the scientific community of NARS with regard to various forms of IPRs, and operationalise implementation of ICAR guidelines and commercialisation of technologies.

Earlier, Dr Rai inaugurated the newly constructed Director's office building of NAARM in the campus.

Fifty representatives of the Institute Technology Management Committees of 31 ICAR institutes and several Directors of ICAR institutes across the country participated in the workshop.

UNI