Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched 35 crop varieties with special traits—developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) — to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition. The new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation through a video conference organised at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vighyan Kendra.
Addressing farmers and other stakeholders through video conferencing after the launch, Modi said climate change is a big challenge not only for the farm sector but also for the entire ecosystem, and efforts needed to be stepped up to address the problem. Modi called for collective efforts and continuous intensive research to deal with the climate change, which is adversely impacting the output of agriculture and allied sectors, thereby causing huge losses to farmers.
In the last six-seven years, science and technology are being used on a priority basis to solve the challenges related to agriculture, he said, adding that the joint efforts of farmers and scientists will give better results. Modi also said that modern technology and new farming tools are at the core of future farming and stressed on use of drones and sensors to collect high-quality farm data and real-time solutions.
“Indian agriculture has always remained scientific. The synergy between agriculture and science should continue as it is important for India in 21st century,” Modi said in his address. “Our focus is very high on more nutritious seeds, adaptable to new conditions, especially in changing climate,’’ he said, adding that 35 new crop varieties will address the problem of climate change and help in the Government campaign to make India malnutrition free. Expressing concern over challenges of climate change, Modi said, “Not only agriculture, climate change is a big challenge to the entire ecosystem.”
The 35 crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient-content were developed by ICAR this year. These include a drought tolerant variety of chickpea, wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeonpea, early maturing variety of soybean, disease resistant varieties of rice and biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean and faba bean.
Modi said, “More than 1,300 seed varieties have been developed. Today, 35 more crop varieties have been dedicated to farmers. These crop varieties or seeds will address the challenge of climate change and malnutrition.”
Modi also interacted with five farmers from different States. In his interaction with Zaitoon Begum of Ganderbal (Jammu & Kashmir), Modi asked about her journey of learning innovative agricultural practices and how she trained other farmers and how she is working for the education of girls in the Valley. He also mentioned that even in sports, girls from J&K are doing well. The Prime Minister stressed that the needs of farmers with small holdings are the Government’s priority and that they are getting all the benefits directly. In all he spoke to five farmers one-by-one.
Talking to Kulwant Singh, a farmer and seed producer from Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh), Modi asked him how he was able to produce a diverse variety of seeds. The Prime Minister praised Singh for processing his crops and doing value-additions.