As the world population is expected to be 9.1 billion by 2050, there is a need to augment food production by 70 % between now and 2050, said Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University.
He was speaking at the 40th convocation of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University that was presided by Chancellor and Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
With growing population and shrinking farm lands, there was a need for continuous research and adoption of emerging technologies, Mr. Dhillon said. He pointed out that crop improvement principles and practices had been evolving over the years to address the exigencies of development challenges.
He said genomics appeared to be a promising tool to decipher the stress responsiveness of crop species.
He underlined the role of data sciences, data analytics and artificial intelligence in revolutionising the way the entire agriculture system was practised. Mr. Dhillon said that sustaining the available natural resources for prolonged utilisation was a priority now. Stating that water scarcity and climate change were major challenges, Mr. Dhillon said the sustainable development goals called for substantial improvement in water efficiency across all sectors.
N. Kumar Vice-Chancellor of TNAU, said Tamil Nadu had won the Krishi Karman Award for the fifth time and added that the university had brought out 840 varieties of crops, 1,500 management technologies and 164 farm implements. Pro Chancellor and Agriculture Minister R. Doraikannu took part.
Earlier, the Governor declared open the demonstration plot of Ultra High Density planting in Mango by planting the first mango graft (Banganapalli) sapling at the plot. This new planting technique is for orchard trees wherein the saplings are planted at a closer distance than the conventional spacing.
