‘Agriculture students ring in second green revolution’

To bring about the second green revolution, students of agriculture should devote their knowledge to the development of farming and the welfare of farmers, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Thursday.

He was addressing the 55th convocation of the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi. “As Pusa Institute is situated in Delhi, there has been continuous development of agriculture in the adjoining States like Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Two more agricultural research institutes, in Assam and Jharkhand, have been opened for the holistic development of agriculture nationwide,” he said.

Because of the adoption of crop varieties developed by Pusa Institute, “meaningful and multiple changes” had come about, he said. “Earlier, we depended on other countries for grain, but now we are helping other countries by providing [them] food security.” With the cultivation on 10 million hectares of wheat varieties developed by the IARI, 50 million tonnes of wheat was being produced. “Basmati rice accounts for Rs. 22,000 crore in the agricultural exports totalling Rs. 1 lakh crore, and of this, the Basmati varieties developed by Pusa Institute account for 90%,” he said.

Source: 

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/%E2%80%98Agriculture-students-ring-in-second-green-revolution%E2%80%99/article17281842.ece