About Institute

Situated in the ancient cultural city of Varanasi at the bank of holy River Ganga, ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (ICAR-IIVR) is a premium institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, working under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India.

All the three divisions housed in the Institute synergistically address research and development activities across the complete vegetable value chain — from genetic improvement and climate-resilient production to safe, residue-free produce reaching consumers.

The Institute operates with 20 Institute projects and 34 externally funded projects that represent a comprehensive national effort toward achieving food and nutritional security, environmental sustainability, farmer prosperity, and global competitiveness in the vegetable sector.

A brief story of the genesis of the Institute is summarized.

• Vegetable crops are important components of Indian agriculture as they are of short duration, high yielding, nutritionally rich, economically viable and have ability to generate on- and off-farm employment.
• Systematic research was started in the country with the establishment of All India Coordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops (AICRP-VC) in 1971–72.
• It was upgraded to Project Directorate of Vegetable Research (PDVR), New Delhi and subsequently shifted to Varanasi in 1991.
• The PDVR was elevated to a national institute as ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (ICAR-IIVR) in 1999.
• At present, ICAR-IIVR has 3 Divisions (Crop Improvement, Crop Production and Crop Protection), one Regional Station at Kushinagar and 3 KVKs at Kushinagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar and Deoria.
• Since its inception, ICAR-IIVR has been playing a pivotal role in vegetable research and development in India.