New Delhi. There is a need to accelerate our food grain production to meet the growing demand of our population. This has to be achieved through vertical expansion with the use of science and technology. This was stated by Shri Sharad Pawar, the Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, here today while addressing the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) awards ceremony. Awardees included 5 institutions, 127 scientists and 3 farmers under 11 different categories.

Shri Pawar said, “Though we have over these years brought about a qualitative improvement in agricultural research and extension systems, I must admit that much more needs to be done, both in terms of pure research and in terms of quality and effectiveness of our rural extension services. Climate change and its impact on Indian agriculture has thrown new challenges for our agricultural researchers and scientists. Our various research centres across the country are actively working on developing drought resistant varieties of seed and other plant management methods to mitigate the expected production loss due to rising temperatures.”

About the frontier technologies, Shri Pawar said, there are people who question the efficacy of some of these technologies but closing our eyes to the latest developments in the world will be counter-productive given the size and aspirations of India’s population. The Minister asserted that it is extremely important to leap-frog to frontier areas of research for the necessary technology interventions to ensure sustainable growth in agriculture. The Minister also envisaged a greater role for the private sector in this field. He pointed out that private investment in high technology areas in agriculture going hand in hand with the public funded research and public/state funded seed production programmes will go a long way in taking Indian agriculture to the next level. To tackle the complexities of Indian agriculture, the Minister stressed on a focused, inter-sectoral approach, covering all dimensions, so that we can achieve the required growth rates in a short time span.

The Minster said that sincere efforts of researchers, agricultural educationists and extension workers are the need of the day. Shri Pawar expressed the hope that the tradition of ICAR awards would go a long way in recognizing proficiency, sincerity and efficiency of researchers, extension workers and innovative farmers and also help in bridging the knowledge gap in agriculture.

Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Prof. KV Thomas, in his address, said, the technologies developed by ICAR have greatly enabled drought proofing our agriculture as could be seen from trends of rainfall and food grain production during 2002 and 2009. Appreciating the role of ICAR and State Agricultural Universities in technology generation and its adoption by farmers, Prof Thomas said, the new technologies must be delivered at the door steps of farmers to accelerate productivity and enhance agricultural growth.

Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education and D.G. ICAR, Dr. S. Ayyappan, and eminent agricultural scientist and Member of Rajya Sabha, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan also spoke on the occasion.