Pariksha SaathiDryland Congress adopts Delhi Declaration on Drylands
Dryland Congress 2026, held from 10 to 12 September at the NASC Complex in New Delhi, closed with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration on Drylands (3D), which sets out a shared agenda for transforming dryland agriculture across the Global South through collaboration, knowledge exchange, innovation and collective action. The Congress was organised jointly by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the theme 'Transforming Dryland Agriculture with South–South Cooperation', marked 50 years of ICAR-ICRISAT partnership, and covered six thematic areas. Its final day coincided with the UN Day for South-South Cooperation, and the Declaration, endorsed at the closing plenary by participating governments, institutions and delegates, calls for stronger South-South and triangular cooperation. In the closing session, DARE Secretary and ICAR Director General Dr M.L. Jat stressed the need for robust data systems for dryland agri-food systems and for 'living laboratories' that connect research with practice and policy. ICRISAT exchanged MoUs with Avior Life Sciences, NIFTEM, Wipro Limited and the Angul and Rayagada district administrations of Odisha, new agreements with the Global Crop Diversity Trust were announced, and the inaugural ISSCA Global Awards, which drew 170 nominations from 34 countries, were presented.
Drafted with AI assistance from a live web search; a second AI pass confirmed the official link above and checked a sample of the facts against it. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is observed on 12 September, the date in 1978 on which delegations meeting in Buenos Aires adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries. The General Assembly first set the Day on 19 December (resolution 58/220 of 2003) and moved it to 12 September from 2012 onward.
Reference: United Nations observance page for the Day for South-South Cooperation
Check yourself: does 'South-South cooperation' mean cooperation among countries of the Southern Hemisphere?
No. 'South' refers to developing countries (the Global South), not to geography — India, for example, lies in the Northern Hemisphere. 'Triangular cooperation' is when a developed country or a multilateral organisation supports a South-South partnership.
Revision task: note who organised the Congress (ICRISAT and ICAR), what it adopted (the Delhi Declaration on Drylands), and which partners ICRISAT exchanged MoUs with, and link the closing day to the UN observance on 12 September.
Test yourself
Dryland Congress 2026, organised jointly by ICRISAT and ICAR, closed with the adoption of which document?
Show the answer
Answer: Delhi Declaration on Drylands
The Delhi Declaration on Drylands (3D) sets out a shared agenda for dryland agriculture across the Global South; the Congress, held 10-12 September 2026 under the theme 'Transforming Dryland Agriculture with South–South Cooperation', marked 50 years of the ICAR-ICRISAT partnership.
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