DialogueNEXT India: 60 Years of Borlaug’s Legacy, Global Leaders Convene to Confront Hunger

08 September 2025, New Delhi: Global agricultural leaders, policymakers, scientists, and farmers are gathering in New Delhi this week for DialogueNEXT in India, a two-day high-level event dedicated to exploring and accelerating breakthrough innovations to secure the world’s food future.

Hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation in partnership with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), this year’s DialogueNEXT – themed “Take it to the Farmer” – continues its farmer-focused approach, building on last year’s DialogueNEXT in Mexico. The conference underscores the urgent need to ensure transformative agricultural solutions reach farmers, particularly across the Global South.

Held on the occasion of World Agriculture Day, DialogueNEXT places a global spotlight on those who feed the world. The event celebrates India’s powerful legacy of agricultural innovation, honors Indian World Food Prize Laureates, and showcases the country’s leadership in global food systems. Bringing together stakeholders from science, policy, business, and civil society, the conference advances a farmer-first agenda and lays the groundwork for action-oriented outcomes through deeper cross-sector collaboration.

Dr. B.M. Prasanna, Regional Director for CIMMYT Asia and Managing Director of BISA, emphasized that the two-day event will feature critical discussions on agricultural transformation, enabling policies, innovations in science and technology, value chains, markets, and the role of the private sector. Importantly, farmers themselves will participate in the conversations to help shape outcomes that can be directly applied in the field.

He noted that the Green Revolution—pioneered by Dr. Norman Borlaug and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan—was made possible by the powerful convergence of science and policymaking. “Today, the complexity of global food challenges requires collective leadership. Unlike the past, when one individual or single breakthrough could transform agriculture, the future will demand a team of experts working together on tailored solutions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; instead, solutions must be adapted to the needs of each region and country,” Dr. Prasanna explained.

The event, taking place September 8–9 at the ICAR Convention Centre in New Delhi, highlights India’s leadership in shaping and driving advances in global food systems.

“India’s leadership and innovations in agriculture are critical to unlocking 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 connects the dots and builds momentum to scale these efforts in India, across South Asia, and around the globe.”

“The emerging global megatrends are posing complex challenges on agri-food systems which need smallholder farmer-centric, systemic solutions and their accelerated uptake,” said Mangi Lal Jat, Secretary of India’s Department of Agricultural Research and Education and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). “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.”

“It is an honor to hold this conference in India, 60 years after Dr. Norman Borlaug helped introduce semi-dwarf wheat into India, doubling production in less than a decade and averting an imminent famine,” said Nicole Prenger, Senior Director, Global Programs and Strategic Communications, World Food Prize Foundation. “DialogueNEXT was designed to mobilize action for a similar ‘moonshot’ to sustainably feed a growing global population in the coming decades.”

With the world’s population projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, DialogueNEXT in India comes at a pivotal moment. More than 150 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates recently cautioned that the world is “not even close” to meeting future food demands, urging urgent investment in agricultural research and innovation to avert a hunger tipping point.

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