As foodgrains requirement expected to increase once the Food Bill come into force, noted farm scientist M S Swaminathan on Wednesday said that global crop research bodies should play a greater role in enhancing farm yields.
The proposed National Food Security Bill, which aims to give legal right to the subsidised foodgrains to 63 per cent of the country’s population, was introduced in the Lok Sabha last year. It is being vetted by a Parlimentary panel.
“According to estimates, 70 million tonnes of food grains will be required for implementation of the legislation. For making available such huge quantity of grains will require technological help from crop research institutes like ICRISAT,” Swaminathan said at ICRISAT’s 40th anniversary.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and other crop research bodies will have an important role in providing technologies to ensure sufficient foodgrains for operationalisation of food Bill, he said.
Speaking to reporters separately, Swaminathan said ICRISAT can also play an important role in promoting nutritional security along with providing food security.
The government was also awaken to the problem of providing nutritional security to the people and has identified 200 high-burdened malnutrioned districts and working to address the problem, he added.
With world population expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, ICRISAT Director General William D Dar said there is a need to raise foodgrains production by 78 per cent in developing countries and the institute plans to augment research acitivities in next seven years, especially in high-yielding crops like sorghum, pulses and millets
ICRISAT, which has developed 800 varieties of seeds of crops in last 40 years, identified global warming, land degradation, rising food prices and burgeoning population as future challenges which need to be tackled through advanced research in plant technology.
ICRISAT is the only global farm research centre dedicated to the semi-arid tropics. Hosted by India, ICRISAT has six other stations strategically located in Africa.