EMERGING AGRI-CHALLENGES GONE UP MANIFOLD- DR CHAHAL

LUDHIANA, MARCH 23:-----



"The challenges in Indian agriculture have gone up manifold. The most striking concern of post-green revolution includes distortions in natural resources (land and water), imbalance in commodity mix, high price and yield risk, increase in small and marginal holdings, unemployment in agriculture, recurrent droughts and natural calamities, declining rate of investment (public and private sector) and increase in inter-regional disparities," stated Dr S.S. Chahal, Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur and a former Dean, Postgraduate Studies, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), while delivering his talk on "Retrospect and prospects of Indian agriculture," here today. The programme was organized by the PAU Science Club in view of the Golden Jubilee Year of the university. Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, PAU Vice-Chancellor, senior officers, deans, directors, heads, faculty and the students of the university participated in the programme.



Quoting the first Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr Chahal said that "Everything else can wait, but not agriculture." The epicenter of green revolution, Punjab, contributes two-third of food grains to the national pool with 1.53 geographical area. Highly mechanized and having 90 % irrigated land, the state has the highest share in Gross State Domestic Product in agriculture i.e. 28.5 %, he divulged. The PAU has played a pivotal role in making the country self-sufficient in food grains, highlighted Dr Chahal, adding that the green revolution in India showed positive impact in terms of boost in farm income, double cropping, use of improved seeds, plant protection measures and in creation of more jobs for rural areas.



Referring to Dr M.S. Swaminathan, he pointed out, "We are on the verge of disaster. The agriculture sector in India is entering a state of serious crisis. Half of the farmers in the country want to quit farming. If the food productivity is not increased and farming is neglected, the agriculture of the nation will be in difficulty." He said that the researchable issues in crop production include biotic and abiotic stresses and quality for crop improvement, drought resistance and genetic engineering, microbial biotechnology for diseases and pest management, molecular breeding for improvement of major crops in different agro-climatic regions, development of nano-technologies and strategies to bridge demand-supply gap in pulses and oilseed production. Disclosing that horticulture production accounts for 30 % of India's agricultural GDP from 8.5 % cropped area, Dr Chahal emphasised that it requires accelerated production, processing and export. He also laid thrust on natural resource management, climate risk and preparedness, genetic improvement through biotechnology, farmer-friendly farming systems, mega biodiversity and varied agro-climate regions, productivity enhancement, post-harvest management, value addition and agro-processing, organic agricultural produce and agribusiness. Dr Dhillon honoured Dr Chahal with a memento. The Dean, Postgraduate studies, Dr Gusharan Singh welcomed the dignitaries and the participants.


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