Need high-yielding seeds to boost pulses,oilseeds output: Min

Concerned over imports of pulses and cooking oils to meet domestic demand, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today asked the farm scientist to develop high yielding seed varieties to boost production of oilseeds and dals to make country self sufficient.
He said imports of pulses and edible oils worth thousands of crores every year make a huge impact on the country's foreign exchange reserve.
Addressing the convocation of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), he said the premium farm research bodies would play an important role in developing high-yielding varieties to boost productivity and production of pulses and oilseeds.
Singh asked students to come to the forefront and devote their knowledge and skills to agriculture for bringing the second green revolution in the country.

The minister said that due to the presence of Pusa Institute in Delhi, there has been continuous development of agriculture in the adjoining states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.
He said two more IARI institutes have been opened in Assam and Jharkhand for holistic development of agriculture in the entire country.

Singh complemented farm scientists for achieving self sufficiency in foodgrains productions.
"With cultivation of wheat varieties developed by Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 10 million hectares, 50 million tonnes of wheat were being produced," he said, adding Basmati varieties developed by Pusa Institute contribute significantly in agricultural export exchequer.

During 2016, IARI has released 11 varieties of different field crops such as rice, wheat, mustard and pulses.
Pusa Double Zero Mustard 31, a canola quality mustard, developed by the institute, is the first variety of high quality in the country having less than 2% Erucic acid and less than 30ppm glucosinolates found in oil-cake, which is conducive for human and animal health.
He said the automated phenomics facility established by IARI would be useful to study the environmental stress. This facility would be used in developing plants from which higher yield could be secured with less use of water and fertilizers.

Singh said ICAR-IARI, Pusa has developed an innovative, eco-friendly and cost-effective wastewater treatment technology through which waste water can be made pollution free and used for irrigation purpose with less than 1% energy and less than 50-60% investment and operational cost.
The minister also said that this technology would be effective in checking the shortage of water and pollution of soil, ground water and food due to wastewater in future.
Singh highlighted the various schemes launched by the government such as Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme, Prime Minister Agricultural Irrigation Scheme, Farm Mechanization Mission, National Agricultural Marketing, Rural Storage Scheme and Soil Health Card Scheme for the growth of farm sector.