Agricultural scientist underlines need to grow climate resilient crops

Agricultural scientist Rajeev K. Varshney, on Wednesday underlined the need to grow climate resilient crops that are sustainable, have more nutrition and have higher productivity to feed the increasing global population.  

Delivering the M.S.Swaminathan Centenary Lecture Series at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation here, Varshney also said that to ensure zero hunger, good health and well-being, those working in agriculture need to integrate genomics in the breeding programme. This is called genomics-assisted breeding. Varshney, who is director, WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security, Murdoch University, Australia, said that genomics, pan-genomics, GWAS and haplotype analysis can help identify precise genes and genetic selection tools for genomic breeding.  

A rapid-delivery system needs to be established/ strengthened in developing countries. The support of international, national and local government/ agencies was a must and capacity-building was needed for sustainable agriculture and food security, he added. Talking about how food security was built, he praised the work of scientists, including the late M. S. Swaminathan and Norman Borloug and said that present day scientists were working on the path shown by these men. Though food production had increased considerably when compared to the 1960s, there were still hungry people on the planet.   

Sowmya Swaminathan, chairperson, MSSRF, was present on the occasion.  

Published - November 07, 2024 12:28 am IST