Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security

Enhancing agricultural production, increasing farm income, accelerating agricultural growth and conserving natural resources are the major challenges facing the world today. India needs to raise its food grain productivity by almost 40 percent from the present level to feed its huge population. Hence, agricultural scientists should introduce innovative technologies. This was stressed by Union Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar during the 4th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in New Delhi.

More than 1000 delegates representing the scientific community, international organizations, farmers’ organizations and other stakeholders from 48 countries attended the congress jointly organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, renowned agricultural scientist, emphasized the role of conservation agriculture in hunger and poverty alleviation and regarded it as an attitudinal change towards natural resources. He noted that “there is a need to increase the productivity, especially of small farms, without harming ecological balance.”

For more details contact http://www.icar.org.in/news/wcca06-02-2009.htm. A copy of the Minister’s speech is at http://www.icar.org.in/AM_Speech_on_Conservation.pdf. More information about crop biotech in India can be obtained by emailing b.choudhary@cgiar.org and k.gaur@cgiar.org.