28-Sep-2021: PM dedicates to the Nation 35 crop varieties with special traits

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated to the Nation 35 crop varieties with special traits through video conference. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the newly constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Management Raipur.  On this occasion, the Prime Minister also distributed the Green Campus Award to Agricultural Universities. He interacted with farmers who use innovative methods and addressed the gathering.

Talking to Smt Zaitoon Begum of Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir, The Prime Minister talked 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. The Prime Minister mentioned that even in sports, girls from J&K are doing well. He also said that the needs of farmers with small holdings are the government’s priority and they get all the benefits directly.

While interacting with Shri Kulwant Singh, a farmer and seed producer of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister enquired how he was able to produce a diverse variety of seeds. The Prime Minister asked how he benefits from his interaction with scientists at the agricultural institute at Pusa and what is the trend among the farmers about getting in touch with such institutions. The Prime Minister praised the farmer for processing his crops and doing value-additions. The Prime Minister said that the government is making efforts to get good prices for farmers with many initiatives like access to the market, good quality seeds, soil health cards etc.

Prime Minister enquired Smt Darshana Pedenkar, from Bardez, Goa, how she is cultivating diverse crops and rearing various livestock. He asked about the value-addition of coconut done by the farmer. He expressed happiness that how a woman farmer is flourishing as an entrepreneur.

Interacting with Shri Thoiba Singh from Manipur, the Prime Minister complimented him for taking up farming after a life in the armed forces. The farmer’s diversified activities such as agriculture, fishery and other allied activities drew the Prime Minister’s interest. The Prime Minister praised him as an example of Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan-Jai Vigyaan.

The Prime Minister enquired from Shri Suresh Rana, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand about how he started corn cultivation. The Prime Minister complimented the farmers of Uttarakhand for using FPOs efficiently and said that when farmers work collectively they benefit a great deal. The Government is trying to make every resource and infrastructure available to the farmers.

Addressing the occasion, the Prime Minister said in the last 6-7 years, science and technology are being used on a priority basis to solve the challenges related to agriculture. ”Our focus is very high on more nutritious seeds, adapted to new conditions, especially in changing climates,'' said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister recalled the massive locust attack in various states last year, in the midst of the Corona pandemic. India had tackled this attack by making a lot of efforts, saving farmers from incurring too much damage, he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that whenever farmers and agriculture get a safety net, their growth becomes rapid. He informed that 11 crores Soil Health Cards were issued for the protection of the land. The Prime Minister listed the farmer-friendly initiatives of the Government such as campaigns to complete about 100 pending irrigation projects for providing water security to the farmers, providing new varieties of seeds to farmers to protect crops from diseases thus getting a higher yield. He added that along with increasing the MSP, the procurement process was also improved so that more and more farmers can get the benefit. More than 430 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been procured in the Rabi season and farmers have been paid more than 85 thousand crore rupees. Wheat procurement centres were increased more than three times during the pandemic.

The Prime Minister said by connecting farmers with technology, we have made it easier for them to get help from banks. Today farmers are getting weather information in a better way. Recently, more than 2 crore farmers have been given Kisan Credit Cards.

The Prime Minister remarked that due to climate change, new types of pests, new diseases, epidemics are emerging, because of this, there is a big threat to the health of humans and livestock and crops are also being affected. Intensive continued research on these aspects is necessary. He remarked that when science, government and society work together, results will be better. Such an alliance of farmers and scientists will strengthen the country in dealing with new challenges.

The Prime Minister said efforts are being made to take the farmer out of the crop-based income system and encourage them for value-addition and other farming options. He stressed the need to further develop millets and other grains with solutions from science and research. He said that the purpose is that they can be grown in different parts of the country according to the local needs. He asked people to be prepared to use the opportunities provided by the UN declaring the coming year as the Year of the Millet.

The Prime Minister said along with our ancient farming traditions, marching towards the future is equally important. He said modern technology and new farming tools are at the core of future farming. “Efforts to promote modern agricultural machines and equipment are showing results today,” he added.

29-May-2021: Low-chilling apple variety developed by Himachal farmer spreads far & wide

A farmer from Himachal Pradesh has developed an innovative self-pollinating apple variety that does not require long chilling hours for flowering and fruit setting. This has spread to plain, tropical, and subtropical areas in various parts of India, where the temperature is as high as40 -45 ºC during summer.

Commercial cultivation of this apple variety has been initiated in Manipur, Jammu, low lying areas of Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka Chhattisgarh, and Telangana, and fruit setting has been expanded to 23 states & UTs so far.

Shri Hariman Sharma, a progressive farmer, hailing from Paniala village of Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh, who developed this innovative apple variety – HRMN 99 has become a source of inspiration not only for thousands of farmers in the region but also for horticulturists of Bilaspur and other lower hill districts in the State --areas which earlier could never dream of growing apples. Orphaned during childhood, Hariman was adopted and raised by his Uncle. He studied till class X and thereafter committed himself to farming which is his main source of income. His interest in horticulture egged him on to grow different fruits like apple, mango, pomegranate, kiwi, plum, apricot, peach, and even coffee. The most interesting part of his farming practice is that he can grow apples along with mango in the same field. He strongly believes that farmers can start raising apple orchards in the lower valleys of Himachal Pradesh and elsewhere too.

In 1998, Hariman Sharma had purchased some apples for consumption from Ghumarwin village, Bilaspur, and had discarded the seeds in his backyard. In 1999, he observed an apple seedling in his backyard, developed from the seeds disposed of by him in the previous year. Being an innovative farmer with a keen interest in horticulture, he could sense that an apple plant growing at a warm place like Paniala, situated 1,800 feet from sea level, was extraordinary. After a year, the plant started blooming, and he observed fruits in 2001. He preserved the plant as “mother plant” and started experimenting by grafting the scion (young shoot)and by 2005 created a mini orchard of apple trees which continue to bear fruits till today.

From 2007 to 2012, Hariman went around convincing others that growing apple in low chilling conditions is no longer impossible. However, not much interest was evinced in the research and dissemination of the variety. Eventually, the innovative variety was scouted by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. NIF verified the claims of the innovator and evaluated the distinctiveness and potentiality of the variety by facilitating molecular & diversity analysis studies and fruit quality testing.

NIF also provided financial and technical support for establishing and expanding the nursery, besides aiding the registration of the variety under the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act, 2001. During 2014-2019, the Multi-location trials of the variety in low chilling areas across the country were conducted by NIF by transplanting over 20,000 saplings at over 2,000 farmers’ fields and 25 organizations in 30 states, including Rashtrapati Bhawan. Fruit setting has been reported from 23 states, and UT’s so far. These are Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Pondicherry, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

During further analysis and research, it was observed that HRMN-99 plants having 3-8 years of age produced 5 to 75 kg fruits per plant per year in four districts of lower Himachal Pradesh, Sirsa (Haryana) and Manipur. It is bigger in size as compared to other varieties, with very soft, sweet, and juicy pulp and striped red over yellow skin colour during maturity.

Commercial cultivation of this variety was initiated at twenty-six farmers' fields at eight different locations of Bishnupur, Senapati, Kakching districts of Manipur in the year 2015 by NIF along with other Institutions wherein farmers were provided the requisite training on best practices for successful apple cultivation. A farmer from Manipur has received recognition at various platforms for his outstanding work on adoption of HRMN-99apple cultivation. Capitalizing upon the ongoing success in Manipur, 200 more farmers commercially adopted the variety, and more than 20,000 plants of HRMN 99apple variety are being grown in the state. Commercial adoption of this variety has also been initiated in Jammu, low-lying areas of Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka Chhattisgarh, and Telangana. The North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) under North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of DoNER, Govt of India, and NIF had entered into a MoU in November 2020. In the first phase, 15000 graftings of the variety have been transplanted in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Manipur, and Meghalaya during January 2021.

Shri Hariman Sharma has also been conferred a National Award in 2017 during the 9th National Biennial Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge awards by then Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

29-Apr-2021: New high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean can help boost countrywide production

Indian Scientists have developed a high-yielding and pest-resistant variety of soybean. This newly developed variety called MACS 1407 is suitable for cultivation in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern states and its seeds will be made available to farmers for sowing during the 2022 Kharif season.

In 2019, India produced around 90 million tons of soybean, widely cultivated as oil seeds as well as a cheap source of protein for animal feed and many packaged meals and is striving to be among the world’s major producers of soybean. High-yielding, disease resistant varieties of the legume can help achieve this target.

Accepting this challenge, scientists from MACS- Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi have developed higher yielding varieties and improved practices for the cultivation of soybean. Using the conventional cross breeding technique they developed MACS 1407 which gives 39 quintals per hectare making it a high yielding variety and is also resistant to major insect-pests like girdle beetle, leaf miner, leaf roller, stem fly, aphids, white fly and defoliators. Its thick stem, higher pod insertion (7 cm) from ground, and resistance to pod shattering make it suitable even for mechanical harvesting. It is suitable for rain-fed conditions of north- east India.

Mr. Santosh Jaybhay, ARI scientist who led this work said, ‘MACS 1407’ showed 17% increase in yield over the best check variety and 14-19 % yield advantage over the qualifying varieties. It is highly adaptive to sowing from 20 June to 5 July without any yield loss. This makes it resistant to the vagaries of Monsoon as compared to other varieties."

MACS 1407 require an average 43 days for 50 % flowering and take 104 days to mature from the date of sowing. It has white coloured flowers, yellow seeds and black hilum. Its seeds have 19.81 % oil content, 41 % protein content and show good germinability. This high yielding, pest resistant, low water and fertiliser requiring soybean variety, suitable for mechanical harvesting has recently been released by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India making it legally available for seed production and cultivation.

15-Apr-2021: Punjab’s new nutrient rich crop & vegetable varieties can cater to nutritional needs of the country

Punjab, the granary of India has come up with offerings of a bouquet of improved crop and vegetable varieties which are rich in nutrients and can make valuable contributions to the nutritional requirements of India’s population.

‘PAU 1 Chapatti’ with low polyphenols and outstanding processing qualities has been shortlisted for commercialization whereas wheat candidate varieties having high grain protein, high zinc, low phytates (chemical group that reduces bioavailability of micro-nutrients and protein) and high carotenoids have been developed.

Besides this, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has offered to growers two carotene rich cherry tomato varieties called Punjab Sona and Punjab Kesar and two anthocyanin rich brinjal varieties called Punjab Raunak and Punjab Bharpoor with antioxidant properties. These are also suitable for home/terrace/urban gardening. Inexpensive, nutrient rich home gardening pot mixture providing 40-50% higher productivity along with appropriately designed pots and pot props have also been developed.

PAU has also identified wild rice accession with high grain protein and genetic stocks with high iron content for breeding rice with enhanced nutritional value. High grain iron and zinc lines have been identified in inter-specific crosses of chickpea. 

The varieties and genetic stocks have been developed by the Punjab Agricultural University with support from the Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE) grant provided by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. Besides varieties, a number of technologies for value added products from nutritionally enhanced varieties of cereals, pulses and vegetables are on the cards.

Protocols have been developed for assessing insecticide resistance and resurgence in rice plant hopper, cotton whitefly and okra mites. Studies have been carried out to study pathogen dynamics and molecular level variability in pathogen populations of potato scab, rice sheath blight and wheat yellow rust and have strengthened the resistance breeding based strategy for management of these diseases. Besides environment friendly approaches for pest management, research on efficient rice straw management, promotion of soil health through carbon sequestration  and lowering of greenhouse gas emissions has been carried out.

The PURSE grant sanctioned to PAU in two phases has helped the University to set up large number of major research facilities and supported research by forty students. The publication output was enhanced with 2.4 times increase in citations and significant increase in ‘h-index’ of associated faculty during the last five years.

The first phase of the project focussed on “Climate Change” induced abiotic stresses in selected field and horticultural crops. It introduced a crop improvement strategy in wheat, rice, tomato and pepper to develop varieties with better adaptation to various stresses. A breeding programme to transfer heat tolerance from hot pepper (MS 12) to bell pepper (Royal Wonder) variety which is otherwise very sensitive to heat stress was also pursued in this phase.