Punjab, Haryana Need Sustainable Agri Technologies:Experts

By 1 2 1 News Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th November:--  A Media Workshop organized by the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises - Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG) in Chandigarh on Wednesday, looked at meeting its Food Security obligations through home grown food, the agri-sector leaders—Haryana and Punjab—need to accelerate and sustain the growth of food production and help India meet its Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger in the country. Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG) is an association of leading biotech companies in India that aims to generate a symbiotic interface between the Government, industry, academic and research institutions, and domestic and international investors.

Giving more detail about the facts Dr N Seetharama, Executive Director—ABLE-AG said that With their Agriculture income growing at a steady pace, Punjab and Haryana have emerged as the prosperous states of the country, with Punjab on top followed by Kerala and Haryana. This prosperity of the two states, according to experts, can be attributed to the use of new technologies including adoption of agricultural innovations by the farmers.  The report by research agency Crisil uses indices of prosperity and equity based on the pattern of ownership of consumer durables across various regions in a state and is based on the using the 2011 census data. He added that As one of the first states to adopt and implement the National Food Security Ordinance, Haryana has been on the forefront of the "food for all" initiative and needs to ensure adequate growth of agriculture produce to meet the needs of its 1.26 crore people, which is nearly half of the state's population. Besides, the state government is also committed to provide 2.5 kg of pulses at the subsidized rate of Rs 20 per kg to over 12.84 lakh BPL families.

Whereas Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University Dr P K Khosla, said that the current rate of growth in crop yields cannot help Haryana and the country to meet the challenge of doubling food production by 2020. Since we can neither increase the size of arable land nor improve quality of land and, it makes sense to adopt improved agronomic practices that can help increase yields significantly. Crop improvement through use of biotechnology can further increase yields by more than 50 per cent in near future and help us save costs and natural resources like water in a big way.