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Biotechnology has emerged as an effective tool for attaining new horizons in crop, animal and fish productivity globally. It is essential to develop world-class biotechnology research facilities in the country to derive benefits from biotechnological advances. This was stated by Shri Sharad Pawar, Union Minister of Agriculture, while chairing the 76th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Society, here today. Shri Pawar said that the overall strategy regarding agricultural sector needs to be designed to harness the potential of cutting edge science while building on the primary production base.
Shri Pawar, who is the President of the ICAR Society, informed the members that the Council has established four regional referral laboratories for quality assurance. This assumes greater significance in the context of WTO regime where testing inputs and products for quality, safety and phyto-sanitary requirements are necessary. These 4 Labs have been established at IARI, New Delhi in the area of Pesticide Residue in Plant Products; at Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai for Meat Quality Assurance; at CIFT, Cochin for Fisheries Technology; and at CIRCOT, Mumbai for Cotton Textile. These Labs meant for monitoring of pesticide residues, development of standards, certification of export commodities for international quality assurance will enhance the global competitiveness of the country’s agricultural produce, he said.
The Agriculture Minister appreciated the role of ICAR Scientists in tackling the challenges thrown by the Tsunami waves by providing all the technological backstopping to ensure speedy rehabilitation of agriculture in the affected areas. Referring to the target of doubling food production by the end of 11th Five Year Plan set by the government, Shri Pawar said, “We contemplate to do everything possible to ensure that our National Agricultural Research System (NARS), as in the past, spearheaded by the ICAR, will be able to generate suitable cost effective technologies for raising agricultural productivity to meet the ever growing needs”.
Shri Pawar termed seed as the basic and essential input for agriculture and said that production of seed needed to be enhanced both in terms of quantity and quality. He referred to the formulation of a major project by ICAR to produce high quality seed and planting material and hoped that the farmers in the country would have greater access to quality seed in future. He assured the members that the government has placed high priority to accelerate agriculture centric growth and said that ICAR has geared itself up structurally and as a system to meet new challenges in agriculture both within the country and globally.
While presenting the Annual Report of the ICAR, Dr. Mangala Rai, Director General, ICAR informed that the Council has filed 52 applications for patents of new technologies. Also, ICAR has assigned 31 technologies to the National Research and Development Corporation for commercialization, he added.
Dr. Mangala Rai announced that the performance of National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) was adjudged as highly rewarding in all its sub-components by the Final Review Mission of the World Bank. He highlighted the fact that the research conducted under Rice-Wheat Consortium in partnership with the National Agricultural Research Systems of India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh and CG institutions was awarded King Baudouin Award-2004 for outstanding research contributions.
During the year the Council produced a total of 4021.38 tonnes of breeder seeds i.e oilseeds (1811.57 tonnes), cereals (1469.54 tonnes), pulses (674.58 tonnes), forages (38.57 tonnes) and fibre crops (27.12 tonnes). Besides, additional breeder seeds were also produced against the indent of state level varieties. The Zero Till Technology spread to nearly 1.5 million hectares resulted in a net annual resource saving of about Rs. 350 crores. It has great potential of saving from 10 mha in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and also in other cropping systems, Dr. Rai said.
Detailing the progress made by the Council, Dr. Rai highlighted the increase in internal resources generation at Rs. 42.63 crores during 2004-05 as against Rs. 25.56 crore realized during 2003-04, that the Council made through its institutes. During the year, the National Seed Gene Bank has been enriched with over 24,690 accessions. 77,000 samples including 59 transgenics were processed for quarantine clearance and 192 phyto-sanitary certificates were issued for germplasm export. More than 620 varieties/landraces of 27 crops have been DNA fingerprinted. The DG also underlined the major emphasis given by the Council on agricultural research for the benefit of tribal and hilly areas. Four varieties (one each of wheat, rice, finger millet and garlic) were released for Northwestern hills and Twenty-seven genotypes of wheat, resistant to different diseases, were also identified.
Shri Kanti Lal Bhuria, Minister of State for Agriculture was present at the meeting along with Agriculture Ministers from various States, members of the ICAR Society and senior official of the Ministry.
SK:RC:HK:icaragm150705
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