WSDS 2025 Thematic Track: Agriculture sustainability through advanced technologies and innovations to achieve food security and heal our planet

Soil health and nutrient use efficiency are interlinked, and improvement in both is important for achieving Sustainable Agriculture Goals. Soil degradation is a global problem that affects 3.2 billion people, or 40% of the world's population. Soil degradation impacts food security, biodiversity and climate resilience. It can reduce global food productivity by 12% and cause food prices to increase by up to 30% by 2040. On the other hand, the world needs to increase the food production by 70% to meet the demand of the ever-increasing population, which is expected to become 8 billion by 2050. Another associated issue is poor nutrient use efficiency of conventional fertilizers, particularly in the most populated countries including India and China. Overuse of chemicals has made crops and soils irresponsive and led to adverse impact on climate and human health. By addressing the root causes of soil degradation, and bringing improved technologies for crop nutrient, crop protection as well as for monitoring and mechanization, we can restore soil health and achieve food security along with more sustainable future for hundreds of millions of people.

Technological innovations are aplenty, but cost-effective and sustainable implementation is challenging at the ground level. Policies and frameworks are in place, but acceptance at the grassroots level is miserably low. Communication channels are available, but farm-level demonstrations aren’t sufficient. In the end, the farming community struggles with higher input cost. This forum would address how the three pillars of sustainability namely, social, environmental and economic, can be considered in unison to make agriculture sustainable and the world liveable.

The thematic track “Agriculture sustainability through advanced technologies and innovations to achieve food security and heal our planet” will have two different session:-

• Technology talks where 4 speakers would talk on technology advancement in Agriculture.
• Panel discussion: Where eminent panelist from Ministry, Regulatory bodies and industry would review the pressing needs for development of agriculture sector.