In a written reply on the development of new farm technologies in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Agriculture and farmers welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said ICAR has launched several projects aimed at innovation in the agri-technologies in the country. It has equipped 194 startup companies and agri-entrepreneurs by providing necessary training and skills to start their new agri-ventures, among other things, he claimed.
ICAR trained 710 rural youth for establishing Custom Hiring Centres in different parts of the country out of which 652 entrepreneurs established Custom Hiring Centres. ICAR has developed and validated 623 district contingency plans and conducted skill development programs for 40.9 lakh farmers.
On dissemination of information about such innovation to the farmers, Shekhawat informed that ICAR has established a network of 690 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country. The technologies duly tested are thereafter passed on to line departments for large scale demonstration and transfer among farmers.
Highlighting the salient features of the Kisan portal and its advantages to the farmers, he said that in mKishan, around 2.75 crore farmers are registered who are continuously receiving crop specific advisories in their local language on their mobile sets.
High yielding varieties of rice, wheat, maize, lentil and pearl millet and improved quality of mustard and soybean; blast resistant wheat varieties; transgenic varieties in cotton, pigeonpea and chickpea; exploitation of gene editing technology for improving desired traits in rice and wheat and development of extra-early/early maturing varieties of pulses especially mungbean and pigeonpea are some of the high-lights of current research done by ICAR, Minister asserted in the House.
He listed technologies developed in farm sector across the country during the last three years and the current year.
The research efforts have led to the development and release of 748 high yielding hybrids in different field crops for cultivation under different agro-climatic conditions during 2014-2017. Besides, 130 improved varieties of 54 important horticultural crops and 105 improved crop management technologies and package of practices for horticultural crops were also developed.
These varieties and improved management practices have contributed significantly in increasing the production in field crops e.g. the production of total food grain increased from 252.02 million tons in 2014-15 to 275.68 million tons in 2016-17. The vegetable production increased from 166.6 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 176.2 million tonnes in 2016-2017. Similarly fruits production increased from 89.5 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 93.7 million tonnes in 2016-2017.
During the last 3.5 years ICAR developed 13 improved poultry, pig and sheep varieties. It developed 36 diagnostics and 9 vaccines for prevention and control of diseases . In addition, more than 145 new animal husbandry technologies were also developed by ICAR during the last 3.5 years.
In the area of fisheries, ICAR developed breeding and seed production technology of 9 food fish species including Cobia, Milkfish, Seabass, Silver pompano, Orange spotted grouper, Pink ear emperor, Long whiskers catfish, Chocolate mahseer, Pangusia labeo, Putia, Chaguni puti, and Mahanadi rita.
To improve farm mechanisation during the last 3 years, ICAR developed 72 new farm equipment/machines/gadgets and 34 new products/ process protocols and supplied over 16500 prototypes of agricultural machinery to farmers/ entrepreneurs.
Overall 102 institutions comprising of 67 Research Institutes, 6 Bureaux, 14 Directorates and 15 National Research Centres mandated for conducting research in agriculture and allied areas besides 11 Agricultural Technology Application and Research Institutes (ATARIs) and 81 AICRPs/Network Projects mandated for coordinating, refining and demonstrating Agricultural Technologies/ innovation in the country.