New Delhi: Looking to overcome the challenges of climate change and malnutrition changes, PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday released 35 plant varieties developed indigenously with special traits such as drought tolerant, disease resistance and bioforal food crops with higher nutritional content such as protein , iron and zinc.
“When science, the government and the community work together, the results are better.
Alliances such as farmers and scientists will strengthen the state in dealing with new challenges,” Modi said while appealing to farmers to adopt tough climate technology to increase their income, save natural ecosystems.
Releasing new plant varieties through virtual functions, attended by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, said PM, “more than 1,300 seed varieties have been developed for years.
In this series, 35 new varieties are dedicated to farmers.
This will be discuss the challenges of climate change and nutrition sorghum and beans, among the others.
Plant varieties This special properties also includes those who address the anti-nutritional factors found in some plants that affect human health and animals.
PM in his speech also emphasized the need to choose traditional agriculture and new agricultural practices based on the use of technology.
“It’s time when we have to balance ‘back to the basics’ (traditional agriculture) and ‘March for the future’ (the use of new technology),” he said.
He also underlined the need to return to the practice of ‘multi-culture’ (different cultivating plants) farming instead of only banking on ‘monoculture’ (single plant agriculture).
During the virtual function, Modi also inaugurated a newly built campus of the National Institute of Biotic Tolerance (NIBST), Raipur, distributed ‘Green Campus Award’ to four agricultural universities and interact with five farmers who use innovative agricultural methods.
Referring to different biotic stress caused by climate change, PM says Nibst-based Raipur will conduct research on ways to overcome this challenge.
“We are aware of plant damage caused by pest attacks.
We face Locust’s attack last year in the middle of a pandemic.
We took a few steps to solve the problem and save farmers from causing large damage,” he said, adding that Nibst has a big responsibility in this case.