Nutritional security next focus area of govt: Agri Comm

Nutritional security is going to be the next focus area of the government, Agriculture Commissioner J S Sandhu said today.
He also asked farm scientists to bring improvement in wheat varieties to boost crop output.
Stating that the Food Security Bill aims at covering 67 per cent of country's population, he said, "Nutritional security is going to be the next focus area of the Government of India."
"India produced a record of 259.32 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2011-12. However, the foodgrain production during 2012-13 touched nearly 255 million tonnes," Sandhu said at a seminar here.
While emphasising on strengthening the wheat research, Sandhu said, "Under the 12th Five Year Plan, we have proposed a target of additional 25 million tonnes of foodgrain production."

On the occasion, Punjab Agriculture University Vice Chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon expressed a concern over the wheat diseases including yellow rust and karnal bunt.

"In addition to proper seed treatment, timely application of fungicides and biotechnological tools is vital for the management of wheat diseases," he noted.
Obeserving that wheat is an important staple food crop of the country, he said the sale of unrecommended crop varieties including that of wheat in the market should be checked.
"The farm scientists must create awareness and advise the farmers to avoid sowing of unrecommended varieties of different crops," he added.
Underlining the need to undertake study on climate change, Dhillon said the farm problems are going to rise in future due to climatic variations.

S S Gosal, Director of Research, Punjab Agricultural University, also voiced his concerns over the two serious diseases of wheat including yellow and brown rusts, adding that both the rusts are causing huge losses to the yield.
"Wind direction, temperature and humidity are some of the factors which determine the spread of this disease," he said.
To encourage wheat export, we need to take care of its disease management and work out strategies to address the biotic and abiotic stresses, he added.