Chouhan asks ICAR scientists to explore non-GMO ways to raise pulses yield

Shivraj Singh Chouhan urges ICAR to find non-GMO solutions to boost pulses and oilseed yields as the council unveils its agriculture roadmap for 2047

Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday called upon the scientific community to look for non-genetically modified organism (GMO) solutions to raise productivity in pulses and oilseeds, areas where India continues to rely heavily on imports.

 

"If countries without access to GM seeds can get better yields in pulses, why can't India?" Chouhan said while addressing scientists at the 98th Foundation Day of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar).

 

Chouhan's comments come amid an ongoing debate on whether genetic modification is the only solution to raise productivity in pulses and oilseeds. Regulatory approval for India's lone genetically modified oilseed variant, mustard, has been stalled for years due to judicial intervention and lack of consensus among stakeholders.

   

Chouhan said farmers with access to irrigation tend to shift towards rice and wheat cultivation — a pattern that has played out across Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and other parts of eastern India as irrigation coverage expanded, pushing the country to depend on pulse imports.

 

Citing yield comparisons, the minister said an acre under rice can produce 30-35 quintals, while an acre under pulses such as gram or moong yields about 5 quintals. He called the gap "a direct challenge" for Icar scientists to close.

 

Chouhan also flagged fertiliser self-sufficiency as a priority and asked how long the country could continue depending on imports. India imports about 6-7 million tonnes of pulses and 15-16 million tonnes of edible oils annually.

 

On production standards, the minister said that while output has risen, the focus must now shift to quality. He commended Icar for developing contingency plans for regions vulnerable to climate shocks, including areas at risk from El Nino-linked disruptions, and for sharing these plans with affected states.

 

He asked Icar's 52 research teams to sharpen their focus and deliver results faster, noting that more than two years had already elapsed on some of these fronts.

 

"Research that only produces papers is a waste of time," he said, adding that research should serve the needs of the country, the land, the soil and the farmer.

 

Ahead of Icar's 100th Foundation Day, Chouhan proposed developing at least 100 climate-smart villages by the centenary; deploying 100 young scientists to work on frontier areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, gene editing and climate-smart agriculture; asking each of Icar's 113 institutes and affiliated agricultural universities to develop one innovation with demonstrable national impact within two years; and having each Icar institution adopt one aspirational district and build a replicable model of agricultural transformation.

 

The minister said he wanted Icar scientists to commit publicly to these targets and proposed setting up an "Icar Open Digital Knowledge Platform" to give farmers direct mobile access to research, advisories and technology updates.

 

Icar bets on crop diversification for 2047

 

The Icar will push for crop diversification under its road map for 2047, capping the area under rice at 53-55 million hectares, with a similar reduction planned for wheat, while expanding acreage under maize, nutritional cereals, pulses and horticulture crops.

 

Speaking at Icar's 98th Foundation Day on Thursday, Director General M L Jat said the council aims to raise agriculture production to 2.1 billion tonnes (bt) by 2047 from the current 1.3 bt, horticulture production to 797 million tonnes (mt) from 369.7 mt, milk output to 628 mt from 247.87 mt, fisheries output to 40 mt from 19.5 mt, and agroforestry cover to 50 million hectares from 28.4 million hectares.

 

The road map also envisages raising farm mechanisation from 47 per cent to over 80 per cent by 2047, improving nutrient-use efficiency from 35 per cent to over 75 per cent, increasing water-use efficiency to 40-80 per cent, and reducing post-harvest losses from the current 20 per cent to zero.