Varanasi: Leading rice scientists Sudhanshu Singh and Padma Shri AK Singh were felicitated by the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) for their outstanding contributions to rice research and sustainable rice production.Sudhanshu Singh, who also serves as the director of IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC), received the recognition at the FSII conference on Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) for Sustainable & Profitable Rice Production held in New Delhi on Tuesday. The honour recognised his leadership in advancing sustainable rice cultivation practices, particularly the promotion of DSR and climate-resilient crop management supported by scientific and digital innovations aimed at reducing production costs, conserving water resources, and improving farmer profitability. AK Singh is the former director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute. During the conference, Sudhanshu Singh chaired a technical session and spoke on ‘Leveraging DSR for Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains System Optimisation and Low-Carbon Rice Production.’ He highlighted the potential of DSR as a climate-resilient cultivation approach that can significantly reduce labour and water use while supporting low-carbon rice production systems.
