Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday urged the international agriculture research community to catalyse a second green revolution in order to boost productivity and counter food security challenges.
Nitish visited Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) on Friday afternoon and held parleys with agricultural scientists who are conducting research to boost yields of wheat, rice, cereals and maize in the South Asian region. The chief minister laid the foundation stone of a training centre for farmers inside the BISA campus. He also visited few agricultural plots to take stock of the new breeds of potato, maize and wheat being cultivated scientifically.
He also urged agricultural scientists of BISA, Rajendra Agriculture University (RAU), Pusa, and Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour, to bring revolutionary innovations and concentrate on food security issues with nutritional values. "Climatic changes often provide a setback to farmers and it's high time one must ponder over the issue. I urge scientists to guide farmers and alert them so that they get used to climatic changes," said Nitish. "Farmers face a number of challenges, including changing climatic conditions, changing diets, paucity of natural resources, compost and quality of seeds."
He also expressed concern over the rise in global temperature stating it poses a threat in producing several crops, including cereals.
Nitish lauded efforts put up by the scientists of BISA, RAU and BAU, for focusing on shuttle breeding, devised by Norman Ernest Borlaug, to grow two successive plantings each year instead of one.
"I have full faith on scientists associated with BISA to help farmers engage in scientific techniques that would combine productivity with sustainability. It is the need of hour to quit conventional modes of agriculture, which needs soil movement and churning. Innovative forms such as zero-till farming and intercropping help farmers," said Nitish.
BISA director Yash Gupta, RAU vice-chancellor Ramesh Chandra Srivastava and BAU vice-chancellor A.K. Singh were also present. The then Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had established BISA on October 5, 2011, in Pusa, Samastipur.
