Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched new varieties of crops with special traits on Tuesday. He took this initiative to deal with the impact of climate change and malnutrition. These crops have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. In a video conference organized at all ICAR institutes, states, and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, these new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation. Not only conducive to climate change, but these crops will also deal with anti-nutritional factors found in some crops that cause poor health conditions in humans and animals.

Impact of Climate change

Since agriculture and climate are closely linked together, the threat of varying climate largely impacts agriculture in many ways, as- varying temperatures, annual rainfall, heatwaves, change of ozone level, and changes in weeds, pests, or microbes, etc. For a long period, people had been accustomed to producing crops under stable conditions of climate, but with gradual global warming, the production of crops has been impacted.  In developing countries where resources are limited but the demand is high, the provision of food to people is unmanageable. In these countries, the population is relatively higher, climate-conducive agriculture is the only solution. Keeping these challenges in mind, the PM took this initiative.

Empowerment of Farmers

On this occasion, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of the alliance of farmers and scientists. He said that intensive research on the impact of climate change on agriculture is required. He expressed the need for farmers to be taken out from the crop-based income system and make them aware of other farming options. He said that connecting farmers with technology will help them get weather information, and get help from the banks; around more than two crores’ farmers have been given Kisan Credit cards. Some schemes like PM-KISAN and transport facilities by Kisan rails have been launched to empower farmers so that their income doubles and they could contribute to making India self-reliant in the farm sector. He also talked about MSP (Minimum Support Price), by increasing It, the procurement process improved so that more benefit can be obtained by the farmers.

New varieties of Crops

In the new varieties of crops, the drought-tolerant variety of chickpea, wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeon pea, early maturing variety of soybean, disease-resistant varieties of rice, and biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean, and faba bean have been included. Technology has brought major changes in various sectors.

For developing countries like India, adopting new ways of farming with technological innovations are essential. To do so, making farmers aware and supporting them to adopt new tools and methods need to be prioritized. The introduction of modern agricultural machines and their nationwide promotion will help not only farmers but also others to understand their usefulness in improving agriculture methods.

In India, where a large number of populations is depended upon agriculture for their livelihood, such initiatives would certainly bring massive transformation in their lives.