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Government of India
Special Service and Features
12-August-2014 14:28 IST

ICAR- Spearheading Tricolor Revolution in Agriculture

Feature
ICAR/
I.Day2014

Dr.S.Ayyappan*

This year 29th July was the momentous day for the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as
HonblePrimeMinister,ShriNarendraModiaddressedtheagriculturalscientistsontheoccasion
of86thFoundationDayandICARAwardCeremony.Inhisinspiring,motivatingandsuggestive
address,PrimeMinistercalleduponagriculturalscientiststoworkformakingfarmingcommunity
moreempoweredandprosperousthroughnewscienceandtechnologyinterventions.Hereiterated
that we must make adequate improvements in technology options in sync with fast changing
climate scenario in different agro climatic zones. Emphasizing on the need for conservation and
efficient use of water resources, he said More Crop, Per Drop should be our mantra. Prime
Minister was apprised of some of the key initiatives of ICAR primarily in the areas of climate
resilience,naturalresourcemanagement,inputuseefficiency,secondaryagricultureandeconomic
transformationoffarmingcommunitythroughinnovationsandinterventions.

The wide network of ICAR is functioning and synchronizing its array of activities to realize its
mission,harnesspowerofscienceandeducationwithahumantouchforhigherandsustainable
agricultural production. Indian agriculture being a monsoon dependent activity, late onset and
deficientmonsoonposedaseriouschallengetofarmersvisvisfoodproductionofthecountry.
Over 520 district level Contingency Plans under National Initiative on Climate Resilient
Agriculture(NICRA)developedanddemonstratedatlocations.Interfacemeetingswereorganized
withstateofficialsandotherstakeholdersforsmoothimplementationandmobilizationofvarious
inputstothefarmers.Facilitationswereprovidedtoensuretimelydeliveryofseedstofarmersof
the short duration varieties of crops and contingent/alternate crops. Various measures of water
harvesting at farms and efficient use of water were demonstrated to farmers along with
organizationofawarenesscampstomitigatetheclimateadversity.Councilhasalsopreparedthe
climatic vulnerability atlas of the country to help develop a road map for sustained mitigation
interventions.Morethrustinbeinggiventodevelopdroughtresistant,flood/waterloggingtolerant,
salttolerant,shortdurationvarietiesandmultiplediseaseresistantvarietiesofmajorcrops.

Technologyledandknowledgedriveninnovationsandinterventionsarespearheadingthecountry
towards tricolor revolution having significant increase in overall food production. This year, a
record263milliontonnesproductionoffoodgrainsand269milliontonnesinhorticulturalproduce
ensured sustainable food and nutritional security for the countrymen. National level technology
demonstrationonpulseproductionin6,000villagesalongwithuseofimprovedvarietiesresulted
inalltimehighproductionof19.5milliontonnes.Continuouseffortstoraiseproductivityofpulses
from 750 to 1,000 kg per hectare are being made with horizontal expansion in area up to three
millionhectareby2020.Inoilseedsnewvarietiesarebeingdevelopedhavinghighoilcontentand
productionpotential.Oilpalmhasbeenrecognizedasanalternativeandeffectiveoilcrophaving
potentialoilyieldof34tonnesperhectare.Tissuecultureprotocolsformassmultiplicationofoil
palmhavebeendevelopedtoquicklyraiseitsarea.

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Incommercialcrops,Indiaemergedassecondlargestproducerofcottonwithproductionof35.3
million bales during the year. New production, management and crop protection technologies,
especially developed for Bt cotton, helped expansion of its area up to 90% of the cotton belt. In
sugarcane,productionreachedtoapproximately361milliontonneswithproductivitypeakingat70
tonnesperhectare.

Recentadvancesinlivestockproductionandmanagementpracticesledtorecordproductionof136
milliontonnesofmilk,whichishighestintheworld,asagainstnearly128milliontonnesduring
201213.Inpoultry,animpressive70billioneggswereproducedgainingfromscientificpractices.
Gramapriya and Vanaraja breeds of chicken have become most sought after breeds for backyard
poultry due to their high performance under rural conditions. Improved breeds of quail, duck,
turkey and guinea fowl were introduced and popularized to enhance the poultry basket of the
country. This year, fish production reached to 9.45 million tonnes banking upon diversified fish
farmingsystem.PopularfishRohuwasimprovedthroughselectionforbetterproductivitygains.

Dissemination of user friendly technologies at ground level is undertaken by a wide network of

Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) having direct interface with farmers. With the establishment of
new KVKs during the year, now the number stands at 639 making it the largest network of
technology assessment, refinement and transfer. As part of regional cooperation, the ICAR also
organized ASEANIndia Farmers Exchange programme and also facilitated the study visit of
NigeriandelegationthatcametofamiliarizewithIndianagriculturalresearchandextensionsystem
in general and KVKs in particular. Under the Tribal Sub Plan, ICAR closely worked with tribal
farmers to enhance their livelihood security in different parts of the country. Council also
demonstrated technologyled agriculture innovation systems for improving livelihood security in
91 backward districts of the country to about 1.43 lakh poor farming families. Intensive efforts
resultedinadoptionofseacagefarmingbyfamiliesofSidiAfricantribes,livingonVeravelcoast,
Gujaratasahighlyprofitablevocation.IntegratedfarminterventionsinBaliislandofSunderbans,
West Bengal enhanced livelihood of the tribal residents. Locationspecific integrated farming
systems were designed for small and marginal farm households in different states with farmers
participation.

Among some milestone achievements, contribution of the ICAR scientists in decoding of wheat
genome is the most promising and latest one. As a part of the international consortium,
Chromosome 2A was decoded helping identification of 1, 25,000 genes. The research got
prominentcoverageinthetopinternationalresearchjournalScience(18thJuly,2014).Underthe
ambitious programme of cloning of Murrah Buffaloes, a male calf named Rajat was produced
throughtheHandguidedCloningTechnique.ThenewborncalfisacloneofProvenBuffaloBull
(MU4393)whosefrozensemenwasavailableintheinstitutionalsemenbank.Thedonorcellwas
taken from the frozen semen of this bull. Female cloned calves named Lalima and Purnima
wereproducedbytakingthedonorcellfromtheearofelitebuffaloes.

Tofacilitatetheadvancementofgenomicsinthecountry,ASHOKA(AdvancedSupercomputing
Hub for OMICS Knowledge in Agriculture) was dedicated to the nation which is a stateofart
facility,firstofitskinddevotedexclusivelyforIndianagriculturalresearch.Thesupercomputing
hubispoisedtobridgethegapbetweengenomicinformationandknowledgebyutilizingstatistical
andcomputationalsciences.

AstepforwardhasbeentakenforsecuringIndiascropgeneticdiversitybyjoiningtheSvalbard
GlobalSeedVault(SGSV).Indiadeposited25accessionsofpigeonpeaassafetyduplicatesin
theglobalgenebankon9April,2014.Theglobalgenebankisjointlymaintainedandmanagedby
theNorwaysDepartmentofAgricultureandtheGlobalCropDiversityTrust(GCDT)underthe
internationalTreatyonPlantGeneticResourcesforFoodandAgriculture(ITPGRFA).

IndianCouncilofAgriculturalResearchhasgeareduptofacesocialeconomicchallengesbefore
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agriculture as a profession. Business partnership has been developed with companies for
commercialization of technologies through AgrInnovate India Limited which is a registered
company owned by DARE/ICAR. Seeds, farm implements & machinery, diagnostics & vaccines
andvalueaddedproductsarethemajorareasidentifiedforbusinessenterprises.Allouteffortsare
being made to raise profitability of agriculture for making it a really attractive occupation,
especiallyforyouth.

*Dr. S. Ayyappan is the Secretary of Department of Agricultural Research and Education and
DirectorGeneralofIndianCouncilofAgriculturalResearchMinistryofAgriculture.

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