Governor Droupadi Murmu during the inaugural ceremony of 57th Annual All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers Meet at Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) here on Saturday asked the agro-scientists to focus on three major domains — doubling farmers’ income, optimum utilisation of new age technology to meet the targets of increased food production, including using fallow lands, in the off seasons for achieving the crop production target on a massive scale.
“Income from a single crop will not fulfill the target of doubling farmers’ income. Diversification of activities which yields better remuneration should be promoted among the farming community,” said the Governor while addressing the assembly of 300 agro scientists gathered at the agricultural varsity from India and across the globe to attend the three-day national event.
The Chancellor of the universities further stated that cropping intensity in the State is merely about 120 per cent against the national figure which is142 per cent, hence, agro experts should devise strategies for bringing the unused land under cultivation during Rabi season too.
“In the absence of assured irrigation facilities in Jharkhand, over 14 lakh hectare rice fallow area of the State remain unused which need to be brought under cultivation for increasing the farmers income by developing short-duration varieties of wheat, barley, pulses and oilseeds using residual moisture,” the Governor added.
In addition, the Governor stated that to meet targets of increased food production for future requirement apt use of biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology (IT) has become the need of an hour. “The scientists have to use their skills combining the new age technology to reach the most underprivileged population of over 6 lakh villages of India as there is lesser land, water and workforce available,” the Governor further added.
Further, emphasising on effective dissemination of suitable farm technologies and recommendations to farmers’ fields for changing the scenario of rural Jharkhand, the Governor said that scientists’ performance would be judged not on the basis of number of research papers, books and bulletins published, PhD students produced but on the basis of contribution made in revolutionising farmers lives.
ICAR Director General (DG) Dr Trilochan Mohapatra during the session asserted that wheat production in the country in 1950-51 was only 11 million tons which has gone up to 98 million tons in 2017-18, registering an increase of about nine times.
The DG further giving credit to the policies, programmes and schemes adopted by the government, technological development and farmers’ efforts, said, “This year we are zeroing in on 100 million wheat production. Food Security Act, we are providing food to more than 60 per cent of our population at Rs 2/ kg. Country’s population by 2050 is expected to touch 1.6 billion and to meet the requirement; ICAR is targeting the productivity of 10 tons per hectare.”
Meanwhile, BAU Vice Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal said that BAU will be an important partner in bringing green revolution in Eastern India and we are targeting to cover 5 lakh hectare rice fallow areas under wheat cultivation in a few years.
Notably, eastern regions which includes Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and eight North-Eastern States accounts for almost 8.5 mha under wheat. According to third Advance Estimates released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI, Wheat and Barley together account for about 37 per cent of the country’s total food grains production.