Singh exhorts student to usher in 2nd Green Revolution

On the occasion of 55th Convocation of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi on Thursday Union Minster of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh said that for bringing the second Green Revolution in the country, students trained in agriculture will have to come to forefront and devote their knowledge and skills to agriculture and farmers’ welfare.

Singh said that due to the presence of Pusa Institute in Delhi, there has been continuous development of agriculture in the adjoining states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and due to this reason, two more Indian Agricultural Research Institutes (Assam and Jharkhand) have been opened, through which holistic development of agriculture is taking place in the entire country.

Due to adoption of crop varieties developed by Pusa Institute, meaningful and multiple changes have been observed. Earlier, we were dependent on other countries for food grains, but now we are helping other countries by providing food security, he added. Agriculture Minister applauded the agricultural scientists of the country, particularly the scientists of the institute, for this achievement.

Readers would know that with cultivation of wheat varieties developed by Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 10 million hectares, 50 million tonnes of wheat were being produced. The contribution of Basmati rice contributes about 22 thousand crore in agricultural export exchequer of about 1 lakh crore rupees and in this, the contribution of Basmati varieties developed by Pusa Institute is about 90%.

During 2016, IARI has released 11 varieties of different field crops such as rice, wheat, mustard and pulses. Pusa Double Zero Mustard 31, a canola quality mustard, developed by the institute, is the first variety of high quality in the country having less than 2% Erucic acid and less than 30ppm glucosinolates found in oil-cake, which is conducive for human and animal health.

A state-of-art automated phenomics facility established by IARI would be useful to study the environmental stress, Singh hoped. He said that this facility would be used in developing plants from which higher yield could be secured with less use of water and fertilizers.

Singh also lauded ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa for developing cost-effective wastewater treatment technology . He also admired the leadership of Prime Minster for initiating a number of agricultural and farmers’ welfare schemes.

The Secretary, ICAR, Trilohcan Mohapatra, dignitaries, scientists, students & innovative farmers were present on the occasion.