The 25th meeting of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) regional committee of zone VIII will be held here from November 11, to analyse, discuss and draw a roadmap on agricultural research and educational issues specific to the region.

Puducherry agriculture minister R Kamalakannan will inaugurate the two-day meeting. Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, secretary of the Department of Agriculture Research and Education, Government of India, and director general of the ICAR, New Delhi, will preside over the meeting.

SK Singh, additional secretary and financial advisor, ICAR, deputy director generals and assistant director generals of ICAR will participate, said Dr Bakshi Ram, director of the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, which are joint organisors.

Around 150 delegates including vice chancellors, directors of research, directors of extension education and deans of the State Agricultural Universities (SAU), project coordinators and heads of ICAR regional / research centres and officials of the development departments of agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and forestry from the region will also participate in the event.

The bi-annual meeting will discuss and review the current status of agricultural research, education and extension education to take decisions on various problems faced by the region, comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry and Lakshadweep, in the execution of the approved programmes and in tackling the emergent problems.

It will also identify gaps for research by SAU/ICAR institutes and constraints in transfer of agricultural technology by extension agencies.