Increasing the pace of growth of agricultural production is necessary to achieve the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target of eight per cent during the 12 Five Year Plan, P. Balaram former Director, Indian Institute of Science, has said at the 35 convocation of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here on Tuesday.
It is also necessary to meet the rising demand for food, increase income of those dependent on agriculture to ensure inclusiveness. The future presents itself with unlimited possibilities but also strong signals of uncertainty associated with issues such as climate change, acceptability of biotechnology, loss of biodiversity, etc.
One of the issues in Indian agriculture is the declining profitability of most of the agricultural crops and enterprises. The real prices of agricultural commodities are not increasing in tune with the increasing costs of critical inputs such as labour, fertilisers and others that have been mainly responsible for the declining profitability in agriculture.
Another issue is the abundance of net sown area in India being divided into economically non-viable, small and scattered land holdings. Indian traditional inheritance laws have predominantly influenced the division of agricultural area into small fragments. The share of small and marginal holdings accounts for 82.54 per cent of the total operational holdings in India.
The next challenge is the shortage of quality seeds. Concerted efforts are needed not only for the production of good quality seeds but also to ensure distribution among farmers. The other challenges are inefficiency in irrigation, lack of mechanisation, soil erosion, soil health, inefficiency in agricultural marketing system among others.
Robert S. Zeigler, director general, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, the Philippines, who was conferred Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science spoke about the partnership the Institute had with the TNAU – the five year MoU to promote research, training and exchange of information and technology on rice and its farming systems and value chains.
C. Adinarayana Reddy, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University, USA, said the question of how to adequately feed the fast growing human population is one of the most important challenges of the 21 century. The current world population is a little over seven billion and about one billion people suffer from food deprivation. The world population had been projected to increase by nine billion by 2050.
To meet the demand, world food production had to increase by 70 per cent.
Traditional approach to increasing food production through high inputs of nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers and pesticides are not sustainable because of growing costs.
Vice Chancellor K. Ramasamy said in his welcome address that the strength of the University was in strong base in research activities. The scientists were always in the frontline in executing viable research projects to evaluate and evolve crop varieties and technologies.
Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, State Agriculture Minister S.S. Krishnamoorthy and others were present at the convocation, in which 133 doctoral degrees, 323 post graduate degrees and 1,065 undergraduate degrees were awarded.
