Global Leaders Convene for DialogueNEXT Conference in New Delhi to Confront Hunger Tipping Point
Global agricultural leaders, policymakers, scientists and farmers gathered in New Delhi for DialogueNEXT in India. A two-day high-level event aimed at exploring and accelerating breakthrough innovations to secure the world’s food future is being held from 8-9 September 2025 at the ICAR Convention Centre, PUSA Campus, New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mangi Lal Jat, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Govt of India, and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said the emerging global megatrends are posing complex challenges on agri-food systems, which need smallholder farmer-centric, systemic solutions and their accelerated uptake. “This essentially needs greater investments in cutting-edge science, innovations and partnerships across discovery to delivery. Since India’s agricultural transformation is happening at a faster pace, the country can serve as a smallholder agriculture innovation hub for the Global South”, he said.
Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in partnership with CIMMYT, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), this year’s DialogueNEXT “Take it to the Farmer” continues the farmer-focused theme, building on last year’s DialogueNEXT in Mexico. The conference emphasises the urgent need to ensure that transformative agricultural solutions reach farmers, particularly across the Global South. Held on the occasion of World Agriculture Day, DialogueNEXT will shine a global spotlight on those who feed the world.
The event celebrates India’s powerful legacy of agricultural innovation, honours Indian World Food Prize Laureates and showcases the country’s leadership in global food systems. Through this gathering, stakeholders across science, policy, business and civil society will come together to advance a farmer-first agenda and deepen cross-sector collaboration—laying essential groundwork for action-oriented outcomes. “It is an honour to hold this conference in India, 60 years after Dr. Norman Borlaug helped introduce semi-dwarf wheat into India, helping double production in less than a decade and stave off an imminent famine,” said Nicole Prenger, Senior Director, Global Programs and Strategic Communications, World Food Prize Foundation.
“DialogueNEXT was designed to mobilise action for a similar ‘moonshot’ push to feed a growing global population sustainably in the coming decades.” The event showcases India’s leadership and excellence in shaping and driving global food systems advances, including from Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister of India and Board Member of CIMMYT. “India’s leadership and innovations in agriculture are important to unlock gains in productivity, sustainability and access across every facet of the agri-food value chain,” said Bram Govaerts, Director General, CIMMYT and Borlaug Institute for South Asia. “This event helps in connecting the dots and garnering further support to scale these efforts both in India, South Asia and around the world.”
Senior government officials, scientists, and agricultural leaders from across Asia, Europe and the Americas, including Thinley Namgyel, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock for the Royal Government of Bhutan. Govinda Prasad Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal; Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and a US delegation from Iowa, including The Honorable Governor Kim Reynolds, Secretary of Agriculture Hon. Mike Naig and Brent Johnson, President of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation are attending the event.
Disclaimer: This is an official press release by Pib.
