Ranchi: Over 14 million hectare cultivable area of Jharkhand remains unutilized during rabi season after harvest of rice which could be gainfully utilized by coverage with chickpea, other rabi pulses and mustard. Scientists should devise strategies like development of early varieties and suitable agronomical practices, said Dr RS Kureel, Vice Chancellor of Birsa Agricultural Universities (BAU).
He was addressing the 24th Annual group Meet of ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Chickpea at BAU on Tuesday (August 29). Jharkhand has made remarkable progress in area expansion, production and productivity of this crop during last five years which need to be further strengthened, he added.
Dr SK Jha, Assistant Director General (Oilseeds & Pulses), ICAR said India is the world leader in acreage and production of chickpea and contributes about two thirds of global production. Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal have higher productivity of chickpea than the national average while Rajasthan, MP and Maharashtra produce less than the national average.
Dr NP Singh, Director, Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur said that about a decade ago India was importing 15000 million tonnes kabuli chickpea annually, however, with the untiring efforts of scientists and farmers the scenario has changed and India has emerged as the world’s largest exporter of kabuli with annual export of 15000 million tonnes. He urged the scientists to dream and come up with innovative ideas which will provide solution to the current problems of farm sector.
Dr GP Dixit, Project Coordinator (Chickpea), IIPR, Kanpur said that with introduction of short duration varieties, 4 million hectare wheat area has been occupied by chickpea in northern India. He said early and extra early varieties tolerant to drought and resistant to diseases were needed for further expansion of chickpea area. IIPR has identified 11 drought tolerant chickpea lines and made genetic bio-fortification for higher zinc and iron content.
Dr Rajeev Kumar Varshney, Research Programme Director (Genetic Gains), International Crop Research Institute (ICRISAT), Hyderabad said India will have to produce 26 million tonnes pulses by 2022 and 32 million tonnes by 2030 to meet the requirement of recommended 42 grams per capita pulses per day. The target can be achieved by strengthening seed supply system, accelerating seed replacement rate and policy intervention of government.
BAU Director Research Dr DN Singh said India has to feed 17 per cent of the world population with only 4% water and 2.3% land and scientists have to make greater efforts for self sufficiency on pulses front. India is earning foreign exchange worth Rs fifty thousand crore by export of basmati rice and long slender-short slender aromatic rice only.
Dr ZA Haider, Chairman, Dept of genetics & Plant Breeding, BAU and organinisg secretary of the event proposed a vote of thanks.
About 130 scientists from country’s 27 universities and institutes representing 26 states besides researchers from The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Lebanon are attending the three-day meet.
ISPRD Fellow Award to Dr Dr Rajeev Varshney
Dr Rajeev Kumar Varshney, Research Programme Director (Genetic Gains), International Crop Research Institute (ICRISAT), Hyderabad was conferred on Honorary Fellow of India Society of Pulses Research & Development.
Rajeev (46) has been working on development and application of genomic tools and strategies for crop breeding especially in developing countries for the last two decades and has expertise in capacity building and artificial intelligence also.
He has to his credit over 350 research papers published in national-international journals including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, Genome Biology, Trends in Plant Science etc. He is elected Fellow of Indian National Science Academy, The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India Crop Science Society of America and The World Academy of Sciences.
Varshney has been conferred on about 20 national and international awards including GD Birla Award for Scientific Research, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award of CSIR, Qilu Friendship Award by the People’s Republic of China, listed in World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thomson Reuters and recognized as Highly Cited Researcher for 5th consecutive year in a row by Thomson Reuters Clarivate Analytics.