IUPAC International Conference on Agrochemicals Protecting Crops, Health and Natural Environment – Discovery and development of synthetic and natural products for health and pests management was held during 7-10 January, 2020, New Delhi, India. The conference was jointly organised by IPFT, ICAR, DCPC and SPSA. The conference provided a platform to scientists of different disciplines, industries and stakeholders to discuss latest trends and discoveries in the field of agrochemicals and phyto-medicines, deliberate on important issues of agricultural research, and present views as policy inputs to the planners, decision/opinion makers at various levels.
The conference comprised of a number of plenary and keynote lectures by the world’s leading scientists, reviewing the principal theme areas of the conference. Besides new compounds, new concepts and newer uses, the conference covered other traditional areas of research such as pest diseases management, invasive pests, weed and resistance management, exploring biodiversity for botanical and bio-pesticides, genetically modified crops, nutraceuticals, as well as research on effect on human health, risk management, ecotoxicology, and remediation strategies. The conference attracted over 265 participants coming mainly from India but also from both developed and developing countries such as Japan, Sudan, USA Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Afghanistan, etc. and included around 150 young scientists.
The scientific programme was supplemented by an exhibition of scientific equipments and laboratory supplies. The conference was spread over 4 days and had 11 plenary lectures, 36 invited lectures and 61 oral presentations in 24 sessions besides 44 poster presentations in 3 different sessions by the different participants from India and abroad. A total of 20 delegates from 10 different countries such as USA, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Venezuela, Afghanistan and Sudan were also present during the conference. The inaugural session was covered by Delhi Doordarshan Kisan, Official Agriculture Channel of India, and was telecast on 9th January 2020. Each day of the conference started with a plenary session and over the four days eleven plenary lectures were given covering various aspects of the research and development of agrochemicals, integrated pest management, nutraceuticals and medicinal plants.
The plenary lectures were delivered by scientists coming not only from India but also from Australia, USA, Japan and Switzerland. The plenary sessions were followed by concurrent session at which a total of 36 invited lectures and 61 oral presentations were given covering topics such as pesticide residues, crop pests and diseases, exploring biodiversity for biopesticides and phytomedicines, genetically modified crops, pesticide resistance management, integrated pest management and nanotechnology. All the staff and scientific staff of the institute actively participated for the successful organising of the conference total 23 papers and posters were presented by research scholars and scientific staff of the Institute.
