ICAR - NRRI Contributes immensely to India’s Food Security Smt. Murmu
Prime Minister's effort is that none remains malnourished in the country – Shri Tomar
11th February 2023, Cuttack
Hon’ble President Smt. Draupadi Murmu inaugurated the 2nd Indian Rice Congress-2023 at ICAR- National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack today.
Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Governor of Odisha; Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Shri Ranendra Pratap Swain, Odisha Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Fisheries, and Animal Resource Development also graced the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that rice is the basis of food security in India and also a major factor in India’s economy.
She said that today India is the leading consumer and exporter of rice, for which a lot of credit goes to this Institute. The President said that as irrigation facilities expanded in the last century, rice was grown in new places and found new consumers. Paddy crop requires large amounts of water, but many parts of the world are facing severe water scarcity due to climate change. Droughts, floods, cyclones are more frequent now, making rice cultivation more vulnerable. She said that even though rice is being grown on new land, there are places where traditional varieties are facing challenges. The President emphasized that today we have to find a middle way, on the one hand we have to preserve the traditional varieties and on the other, maintain the ecological balance. The President exhorted that to overcome the challenge of saving the soil from the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, dependence on such fertilizers needs to be reduced to keep the soil healthy. She expressed confidence that scientists are working to develop ecofriendly rice production systems.
The President said that a large section of low-income groups depends on rice, which is often their only source of daily nutrition, so providing protein, vitamins, and essential micronutrients through rice can help combat malnutrition.
While speaking on the development of the country's first high-protein rice by ICAR- NRRI, she said that development of such bio-fortified varieties is ideal and expressed confidence that the country's scientific community will be able to meet the challenge.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Tomar accentuated that the agriculture sector has made a lot of progress as the hard work of our farmers is supplemented by scientific research.
He said that India is not only self-sufficient in terms of food grains, but also helps the world, which is a matter of pride for us. The Agriculture Minister said to solve the problem of malnutrition, biofortified rice varieties should be produced to increase nutritional value. Towards that direction, the Institute has developed varieties namely CR 310, 311, and 315, he added. Shri Tomar said that while starting a pilot project, provision has been made in the budget for biofortified rice to be supplied in the PDS. He said that the rice production in the country was only 89 million tonnes in 2010, which has increased by 46 percent to 130MT in 2022, with the efforts of farmers and scientists. India is the second largest producer of rice and we are Number One in exports.
Shri Tomar said that the Prime Minister, in the last 8-and-a-half years, under the supervision of the President, has taken initiatives to compensate the farmers for the crop loss. so a security cover like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was initiated and under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, 11.5 crore farmers have been given Rs. 2.24 Lakh Crore by depositing money in their accounts in an effort to aid their incomes. The use of technology is very important in agriculture to reduce costs, increase production and solve challenges like water scarcity, for this budget provision has been made for attracting technology and private investment in the agriculture sector. The Government of India is working with the States on the Digital Agriculture Mission, for which Rs 450 crore has been allocated in the budget. There are 86 percent of small farmers in the country, for their welfare the Prime Minister has increased the short-term loans to Rs 20 lakh crore from Rs.6-7 lakh crores in 2014, so that the small farmers do not get buried under loans from moneylenders, This has definitely empowered the farmers.It is the effort of the Government of India to attract private investment in the field of agriculture, for which Rs 1 lakh crore has been allocated towards the Agri Infra Fund and another Rs. 1.5 lakh crore provision made for agriculture and allied sector. This has opened the doors of private investment and efforts are being made to provide the necessary infrastructure to the villages. Loans worth Rs. 16,000 crore have been approved so far for projects in the Agri Infra Fund, which will benefit our country’s agriculture. It is our endeavor that this Rs. 1 lakh crore reaches the ground as soon as possible, in this effort we moved forward in converting agriculture into an advanced and remunerative avenue by including private investment in it. He expressed the hope that a better roadmap regarding rice cultivation will be prepared in this Congress.
Prof. Ganeshi Lal said that rice is the staple food of the people of our country and it is deeply embedded in our culture and tradition. Referring to the story of Lord Krishna and Sudama from mythology, he said that rice can solve the issue of food security. He underlined the importance of rice as the staple food of many people.
Odisha's Agriculture Minister Shri Swain said that Odisha is not only self-sufficient in rice production, but also supplies rice to 6 other states. There is a lot of scope for increasing rice production in eastern states like Odisha.
Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR), Dr. P.K. Aggarwal, President of the Association of Rice Research Workers, Dr. A.K. Nayak, Director. ICAR-NRRI and Organizing Secretary Dr. S. Saha were present.
Farmers, scientists from India and abroad, officers of central, state agriculture, and other departments are participating in the four-day Congress.
( Source: PIB Release ID: 1898335)
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