The present Director of DIBER is Devakanta Pahad Singh.
History
DIBER has its origin as an "Agriculture Research Unit" (ARU) established by M.C. Joshi who was also its first director in 1967 at Sitoli, Almora which was renamed to Pithoragarh-headquartered "Defence Agricultural Research Laboratory" (DARL) in 1984 and to DIBER in 2008.[1]
DIBER, which has field stations at Harsil and Auli, has expanded its network of field stations to various agro-climatic zones of India.[1] DIBER's field station in Pithrogarh, Uttarakhand, is undertaking research, along with eight other defence research laboratories, on various microalgae systems to extract biofuels which can be used in the Indian Army's vehicles.[3]
Achievements
In 2020, Dr. Hemant Kumar Pandey, PhD, was awarded DRDO's "Scientist of the Year Award" by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for his contribution in developing several herbal medicines, including the Lukoskin drug, a herbal concoction of 8 herbs found in Himalayan region, for treating leucoderma.[4]