CAZRI Director O P Yadav conferred Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for his contribution to agri research

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday conferred prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award on Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) Director O P Yadav.

The award, which recognises outstanding contributions to agriculture research involves a plaque, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, according to an official statement.

The award was conferred on the occasion of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's (ICAR) 93rd Foundation Day on Friday.

''I would like to thank my mentors and colleagues for supporting me,'' Yadav said.

For the past 30 years, he has focused his work on genetic improvement of crops especially for drought-prone areas.

The results of research of his team led to the release of several commercial cultivars; and identification of sources of drought tolerance and diseases resistance, genetic stocks and a large number of germplasm and breeding materials suitable for drought-prone areas.

The most immediate impact of this research is the re-orientation of the crop breeding activities for drought-prone areas and included changes in objectives, base material for breeding and approaches for selection.