Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released 109 climate-friendly high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of crops and bio-fortified seeds. How is this expected to empower farmers?
The new varieties launched are designed to meet the diverse needs of India’s agro-ecological zones, promising higher yields and improved traits. HYVs are genetically tweaked crops that enable higher food production and alleviate the pressure to add more arable land to the vast production systems by stepping up productivity. HYV seeds are resistant to and have a high-yielding potential against insects and diseases. Such seeds are of higher quality and a better choice for growing crops in abundance and in a safer way. The 109 varieties are aimed at enhancing farm productivity and improving farmers’ incomes.
How are the varieties climate-resilient?
These seeds are designed to thrive in adverse weather conditions and offer high nutritional value. Apart from being resistive to many diseases, the advantage of HYVs is their improved response to fertilisers and early maturation to improve crop quality and yield. These advancements are the outcome of targeted crop breeding strategies aimed at boosting productivity and profitability in farming.
Why have 109 HYVs been released simultaneously?
The number is large since there are both field and horticulture crops. All of these have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and state agricultural universities. They cover 34 field crops and 27 horticultural varieties. The field crop HYVs help augment food production and include cereals, millets, forage crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton and fibre crops. Among the horticulture varieties unveiled are new ones of fruits, vegetables, plantation crops, tubers, spices, flowers and medicinal plants. Farmers will get the seeds of these HYV varieties in three years.
Which are the distinctive plant varieties?
One of the 109 seed varieties released is CR Dhan 416, a rice variety ideal for coastal saline areas. It yields 48.97 q/ha and matures in 125-130 days. This variety is moderately resistant to brown spot, neck blast, sheath rot, rice tungro disease and glume discoloration, besides offering full resistance to brown plant hopper, grasshopper and stem borer.
Modi also released a durum wheat variety suitable for Maharashtra, Karnataka and the plains of Tamil Nadu. Adapted for irrigated conditions, it has an average grain yield of 30.2 q/ha. This variety is tolerant to terminal heat, resistant to stem and leaf rusts, and bio-fortified with higher levels of zinc (41.1 ppm) and iron (38.5 ppm). It also contains 12 per cent protein.
What are the other HYVs released?
Among the field crops, there are new varieties of barley, maize, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet. In pulses, new varieties of chickpea, pigeon pea, lentils, and mungbean were introduced. The chickpea varieties are suitable for timely sown, rain-fed or irrigated conditions in the rabi season. They yield 17.79 q/ha and mature in 130 days. These varieties are moderately resistant to wilt, collar rot and stunt, and are tolerant to pod damage.
There are 23 cereal seed varieties, including rice, wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, proso millet and barnyard millet. Additionally, seven oilseed varieties, such as safflower, soybean, groundnut and sesame, and seven forage crops, including forage pearl millet, berseem, oats, forage maize and forage sorghum, have been introduced. The prime minister also released four sugarcane varieties, six fibre crops, including cotton and jute, and 11 potential crops, such as buckwheat, amaranth, winged bean, adzuki bean, pillipesara, kalingda and perilla.
Why is horticulture important?
Horticulture holds immense potential for exports, bringing in more income. The yields are higher per acre so as to enrich growers faster. The productivity of horticulture crops is much higher compared to productivity of foodgrains—12.49 tonnes per hectare as against 2.23 tonnes per hectare. The added advantages are that horticulture contributes to the nutritional needs of the country and creates additional job opportunities in rural areas, expands the range of agricultural activities and generates higher incomes for farmers. One hectare of fruit production generates 860 man-days a year as against 143 man-days with cereal crops.
What are the horticulture varieties released?
HYVs from the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, such as Arka Udaya (mango), Arka Kiran (guava) and an Okra hybrid Arka Nikita, which is iodine-rich, are among the varieties unveiled. Arka Vaibhav, which is a variety of tuberose that has double type white flowers and is ideal for the purpose of cut flowers with a yield level of 250,00 to 300,000 spikes per hectare, and Arka Shreeya, a crossandra variety which is large and novel with orange-red coloured flowers with resistance to phytophthora wilt, have also been released.
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