Delhi Declaration on Drylands
A key outcome of the Congress was the formal adoption of the Delhi Declaration on Drylands (3D) during the closing plenary. The Declaration articulates a shared commitment to transforming dryland agriculture through South–South cooperation, recognizing that many of the solutions needed to address dryland challenges already exist within the Global South.
Adopted in New Delhi on 12 September 2026, coinciding with the United Nations Day for South–South Cooperation and the conclusion of the Dryland Congress 2026, the Declaration calls for strengthened collaboration, knowledge exchange, innovation, capacity sharing and partnerships to accelerate action for resilient and sustainable dryland agriculture.
The Delhi Declaration on Drylands was endorsed at the closing plenary by participating governments, institutions, partners and delegates of the Dryland Congress 2026.
Partnerships for the Future
The Valedictory session also highlighted new partnerships and collaborations emerging from the Congress. New agreements and Memoranda of Understanding were announced with the Global Crop Diversity Trust,
ICRISAT also exchanged MoU with Avior Life Sciences, NIFTEM, Wipro Limited, and the Angul and Rayagada District Administrations of Odisha further strengthening the network of partnerships supporting innovation and action in dryland agriculture.
The Co-Chairs of the conference, Dr D.K. Yadava, DDG (Crop Science), ICAR, and Dr Stanford Blade, DDG (Research & Innovation), ICRISAT, presented a summary of the three-day deliberations and highlighted key outcomes and recommendations emerging from the conference.
Concluding three days of scientific exchange, policy dialogue and partnership-building under the theme “Transforming Dryland Agriculture with South–South Cooperation,” the Congress reaffirmed the need to move beyond knowledge generation towards collective action, scaling proven innovations and enabling stronger cooperation across the Global South.
\nQuotes from Concluding Remarks
Dr ML JAT, Secretary DARE, DG ICAR: Over the past three days, we have spoken extensively about drylands. Now, it is time to look ahead and bring foresight into the centre of our efforts. We need a strong institutional mechanism for this. The ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (ICAR-NIAP) should be mandated to lead foresight work on dryland agriculture.
We also need robust data and information systems for dryland agri-food systems, as well as common innovation grounds—living laboratories that connect research with practice and policy. This is how we can move from knowledge to action and build a more resilient future for drylands.”
Dr Himanshu Pathak, DG, ICRISAT
The future of global food security is in the drylands. The deliberations over the past three days are only the first part of our job—the second part begins tonight.
We must now distil these deliberations and prioritise them into short- and long-term actions. We need to move from ideas to concepts, from concepts to concrete actions \u200b and implementation, bringing together expertise, knowledge and camaraderie to turn our collective thinking into action.
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Media Mentions & Coverage
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