India achieves remarkable progress of 3 times in food production: Prof. Praveen RAO

By Sribala Vadlapatla

Agriculture scientists and experts said on last Tuesday that India has made significant gains towards increasing food and crop output to feed a population of 1.3 billion people. To feed the entire population, India has boosted food production threefold and horticulture and fish output tenfold each.

V Praveen Rao, vice-chancellor of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University, said at the 5th International Agronomy Congress: “It is a matter of pride for the country. We should also have a plan in place to face the challenges of increasing foodgrains production and to provide food to the entire population.”

Professor Trilochan Mohapatra, director-general of ICAR, said agronomy was a vital aspect of agriculture. “We now have a surplus of agricultural produce. Agricultural exports have surged by more than 40% when compared to last year,” he explained. Export of wheat, basmati rice, sugarcane goods and cotton had increased tremendously. “However, there is a need to boost oilseed production because we continue to import oil and need to raise its production,” he said. D Samunder Singh, president of International Weed Science Society in Brazil, said the Indian agricultural scenario had transformed from a ‘begging bowl’ to a ‘surplus state’. He advocated for deployment of robotics and drones in agriculture for optimum input utilisation.

PV Vara Prasad, president of Crop Science Society of America underlined the importance of developing technologies that were inclusive and accessible to all.

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