The project, ‘Climarice-II’ supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE), New Delhi has collaborated with other partners including – Bioforsk, Norway; International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), Hawaii; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore along with IWMI, Hyderabad.
The Project was inaugurated by Sri S.K. Joshi, Principal Secretary (Projects), Government of Andhra Pradesh who extended the Government’s full support and cooperation. He expressed the need for strong institutions; good management and application of the research results to help farmers meet the challenges of extreme floods and droughts – arising due to climate change.
Also, speaking at the occasion, Ms. Inger Sangnes, Counsellor, RNE informed the gathering about the Embassy’s focus on research within environment and climate change. ‘Climarice-II’ at a total cost of Eight Million Norwegian Kroners (apprx. 5.8 Crores Rupees), is an expansion of ‘Climarice-I’, started in 2008 and based in Tamil Nadu, Climarice II will continue the research and implement the results in both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
In his special address, Mr. Sanjay Gupta, IFS, Special Commissioner, Irrigation and Command Area Development, informed about the the recent floods in Andhra Pradesh Governments’s response to it and highlighted the need for appropriate mitigation strategy during the occurrence of such events.
Others members, including Dr. Yella Reddy, Principal Scientist & Project Manager, Andhra Pradesh Water Management Project (APWMP) and K.V. Rao, Senior Scientist, Central Research Institute for Dry land Agriculture (CRIDA), working on projects related to adaptation and mitigation to climate change in Andhra Pradesh also shared their learning and expressed solidarity to be associated with such timely projects and collectively address the challenge faced by humanity – Climate Change.