A workshop, on the eve of International Women’s Day, titled” Empowering rural women for addressing agricultural air pollution and one health” was on March 8, 2019 organized by ICAR-ATARI, Ludhiana and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in collaboration with international agencies Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) under the aegis of CGIAR Research program on CCAFS and Wheat. Dr. G.S. Khush, World Food Laureate was the Chief Guest of the workshop.

Dr. G.S. Khush, in his address during the workshop, thanked the farm women who have come from faraway places to exhibit their ventures and participate in this workshop. He said that balancing home and work is a herculean task and Indian women are competent enough at that. He stressed that women should take care of their own health, as the women usually look after the health of entire family while neglecting their own. Further, he emphasized the role of balanced nutrition for good health.

Dr. Arbinda K. Padee (IAS), Director Country Relation and Business Affairs, ICRISAT, New Delhi expressed his happiness to see the convergence among the national and international institutes. He also discussed about the two products ‘Healthy Snack’ and ‘Smart Breakfast’ based on sorghum and millets developed by ICRISAT which are beneficial for the health of the family. He further said that the institute is working towards preventing malnutrition and degradation of environment.

Dr. M. L. Jat, Principal Scientist, CIMMYT emphasized on gender empowerment for agricultural transformation and promoting climate smart agriculture. He illustrated the technological interventions of CIMMYT to reduce the agricultural air pollution and enhancing gender sensitivity in mitigating climatic risks.

Earlier, Dr. Rajbir Singh, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Ludhiana briefed the house about various activities carried out by the KVKs of Zone-I for the empowerment of farm women. He said that the knowledge of healthy diet is very important for women, as they not only plan their own diet, but also of the family. He spoke about the efforts of the institute in reducing the agricultural air pollution, as the stubble burning in Northern part of India is severely affecting the soil and human health. He further said that woman can do anything and everything, provided they have self belief.

Progressive farm women and entrepreneurs were felicitated during the programme. The participants shared their experiences and highlighted the issues of concern for the dignity of women.