S. Niranjan Reddy, Minister of Agriculture, has expressed concern about dryland cultivation, particularly involving small and marginal farmers, in the context of climate change, changing biodiversity, and food security challenges.
On Feb 21, he spoke at the opening session of the three-day International Conference on Innovation to Transform Dryland, which is being held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and urged the scientific community to improve dryland cultivation conditions in order to achieve sustainable agriculture.
Such efforts should include the protection of natural resources and biodiversity, as well as efforts to make farming more sustainable, according to the Minister, who added that dryland cultivation in the arid and semi-arid tropics provided 50% of global food production despite accounting for 40% of cultivable land.
The Minister praised ICRISAT for its work on environmental protection, nutritional security, and hunger alleviation through dryland cultivation research by developing appropriate technologies and farming practices over the last 50 years.
He hoped that the conference would yield some solutions to the growing threats to biodiversity, deteriorating soil health, climate change, and declining productivity. Such gatherings should also present specific research findings on dryland cultivation issues.
Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member of NITI Aayog, Dr. Jacqueline d'Arros Hughes, Deputy Director General (Research) Dr. Arvind Kumar, and scientists from various national and international organizations spoke at the conference's various sessions and discussions.
