New Delhi, August 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today released 109 high yielding, climate resilient and bio-resilient varieties of crops at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi also interacted with farmers and scientists. Discussing the importance of these new crop varieties, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of value addition in agriculture. Farmers said that these new varieties will be highly profitable as they will reduce their expenditure and will also have a positive impact on the environment. The
109 varieties of 61 crops released by the Prime Minister include 34 field crops and 27 horticultural crops. The field crops include seeds of various cereals including coarse cereals, fodder crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, fiber and other potential crops. Various varieties of fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, tuber crops, spices, flowers and medicinal crops were released in horticultural crops.
During this, the Prime Minister discussed the importance of coarse grains and underlined how people are moving towards nutritious food. He also talked about the benefits of natural farming and the growing trust of the common people towards organic farming, he said that people have started consuming and demanding organic food. Farmers appreciated the efforts made by the government to promote natural farming.
Farmers also appreciated the role played by Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in creating awareness. The Prime Minister suggested that KVKs should actively inform farmers about the benefits of new varieties being developed every month to increase awareness about their benefits.
The Prime Minister also praised the scientists for developing these new crop varieties. The scientists informed that they are working in line with the suggestion given by the Prime Minister, so that untapped crops can be brought into the mainstream.
