Research in agro-biodiversity important to ensure food security: PM Modi

Highlighting the importance of research in agro-biodiversity in ensuring global food and nutrition security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the best practices in agriculture needs to be noted and curated so that natural resources are preserved for future generations.

Inaugurating the first International Agro-biodiversity Congress in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi said it is high time that the stakeholders of the agriculture sector change their way of thinking and preserve the agro-biodiversity and its inhabitants.

"Every country needs to learn from other countries. Nature was entwined with the society and its rituals in India by our ancestors and it has kept the nature sustained and survived," he said.

He said this platform will initiate and encourage a dialogue among the relevant stakeholders including farmers to better understand everyone's role in agro-biodiversity management and the conservation of genetic resources.

"India is the perfect venue for the first-ever International Agrobiodiversity Congress, as it is one of the most diverse countries in the world. It takes up only 2.4 percent of the world's land area, and yet it harbours 7 to 8 percent of all recorded species, including over 45,000 species of plants and 91,000 species of animals," Prime Minister Modi said.

The Prime Minister said technology plays an important role in the development of agriculture but added that there is a need to monitor the drawbacks of excessive use of technology as well.

"We need to be alert and monitor the technological impact in agriculture. In an agricultural ecosystem, Fertilizer is a cause for concern. Since the excess usage exterminates not only the organisms which harm agriculture, but those species which play an important role in preserving the ecosystem," he said.

The Prime Minister said that global warming and pollution have adversely affected different variety of plants and wild life who are facing extinction, adding the world needs to come together to save the species.