Science Circle Lecture ‘Revival of the Malthusian Threat? – The Importance of Innovation in Agriculture ' by Prof. Dr. Johannes Sauer

During the lecture, Prof. Dr. Sauer highlighted the timeless linkages between agriculture and innovation. Drawing from his extensive research work in the field of production economics, natural resources economics and applied econometrics, he emphasised on the unequivocal role played by diffusion of new technologies in averting Malthus’s prophesy of a linear agricultural production growth against an exponential population growth. However, in the face of a global changing scenario, Dr. Sauer cited resource inefficiency, climate change and production conditions of farmers as challenges which could lead the world towards major agricultural production issues and pointed at Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) as a plausible solution to the same. Besides this, the talk also focused on the adoption and diffusion of this innovative approach in South-East Asia, which not only aims at feeding more people but rather equipping farmers to deal with climate changes and reducing greenhouse emissions.

The lecture that attracted professors, agriculture specialists, industry experts and researchers amongst many others, was followed by an extended Q&A session. This further led to an informal interactive session where members from the audience stayed back to understand Dr. Sauer’s opinion on the Indian agricultural scenario.