17th National and 3rd International Iranian Crop Science Congress Co-organized by Shahid-Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran and ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) virtually in Iran

Go Back

The Crop Science Society of Iran in partnership with the Shahid-Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran and ECOSF in collaboration with numerous other Iranian entities, organized the “17th National and 3rd International Iranian Crop Science Congress” with the slogan; “Knowledge-based, Smart Agriculture and Contract Farming”, virtually on 25-27 January 2022.

The congress was the most important gathering of crop scientists in Iran in recent years and provided a platform to the crop plant specialists, researchers and decision-makers in all aspects of crop sciences to present their latest findings and experiences and learn about important developments in these areas of science and technology.

The participants comprising of scientists, researchers and academia in crop sciences and related fields from Iran and other countries including ECO countries attended the conference. On behalf of ECOSF, President Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro participated in the Congress as a Keynote speaker.

Professor Dr. Mansoor Omidi the President of the Crop Science Society of Iran opened the Congress and welcomed all the distinguished experts and participant. Afterwards, some dignitaries of agriculture sector spoke in the opening session.

The Minister for Agriculture-Jehad of Iran H.E. Dr. Javad Sadatinejad also addressed the conference. He appreciated the organization of the conference and shared the policies and programmes of his ministry with participants. It is pertinent to mention that Iran is quite rich in agriculture especially in fresh and dry fruits.

President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor Soomro presented his keynote talk; “Farmer Field School approach- a better tool to prepare farmers for the future challenges”. In his speech, he introduced the ECOSF as an intergovernmental organization of 10 countries of ECO region. Prof. Soomro highlighted the roles, functions and the mandate of the Foundation, which is to support and fund research and promotion activities in Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation as well as the STEM education at different levels using the inquiry-based science education- IBSE approach. Prof. Soomro underlined the future challenges of sustainable agriculture and to the farmers. He emphasized that there is dire need to build the capacity of the farmers, thus, a well-tested methodology- the “Farmer Field School (FFS)” is widely used worldwide to build the capacity of the farmers on management, technology, and marketing of crop produce. FFS also helps farmers to develop new ways of thinking and problem-solving.