The three-day Dryland Congress 2026 concluded in New Delhi with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration on Drylands, outlining a shared agenda for transforming dryland agriculture through innovation, knowledge exchange and stronger international cooperation.
The declaration was endorsed by participating governments, institutions, development partners and delegates during the closing plenary. The final day coincided with the United Nations Day for South–South Cooperation, reinforcing the Congress’s focus on collaboration among countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the Global South.
Dr M. L. Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, called for foresight to be placed at the centre of dryland agricultural planning. He proposed that the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research lead foresight-related work in this area.
Jat also stressed the need for reliable data and information systems covering dryland agri-food systems. He advocated the development of common innovation platforms and living laboratories that could connect scientific research with practical implementation and government policy.
Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General, ICRISAT, described drylands as strategically important to global food security. He urged participating organisations to convert the Congress’s discussions into measurable action by dividing recommendations into short- and long-term priorities. He said expertise, knowledge and partnerships must be brought together to move ideas towards implementation.
Several new collaborations were announced during the concluding session. Agreements were revealed with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, while ICRISAT exchanged Memoranda of Understanding with Avior Life Sciences, NIFTEM, Wipro Limited and the Angul and Rayagada district administrations in Odisha. These partnerships are expected to support innovation and field-level action in dryland agriculture.
Representatives from ICRISAT, ICAR, CGIAR, RIS, NABARD and the CGIAR Capacity Sharing Accelerator reaffirmed their commitment to improving the development impact of South–South cooperation. Experts and representatives from Ethiopia, Senegal, Brazil, China and India also exchanged experiences on scaling successful agricultural models across countries.
The Congress featured the inaugural ISSCA Global Awards 2026, which received 170 nominations from 34 countries. The awards recognised agricultural innovations with the potential for wider adoption across the Global South.
The Award for Transformative Excellence was presented to ICARDA, Lebanon, for heat-tolerant wheat technologies; CIMMYT, Mexico, for e-Agrology 360; and the Odisha Livelihoods Mission for women-led sustainable farming.
Other recognised initiatives included climate-smart crop varieties, Karnataka’s Krishi Bhagya programme, banana pseudo-stem processing, Bihar’s Aahar–Pyne landscape restoration, Bangladesh’s e-Krishok platform, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s FPO linkage programme and digital agriculture systems developed in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
WorldFish Bangladesh and the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya were honoured for livestock and aquaculture innovations. Sixteen students and research scholars also received Best Poster Awards for promising work in dryland agriculture.