New Delhi [India], May 4 (ANI): Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday launched two genome-edited rice varieties – DRR Rice 100 (Kamla) and Pusa DST Rice 1 developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Bharat Ratna C. Subramaniam Auditorium in the national capital.
These varieties have the potential to bring about revolutionary changes in terms of higher production, climate adaptability, and water conservation.
Highlighting benefits of two new genome-edited rice varieties, the Union Minister discussed six-point strategy to increase farmers’ income.
“In agriculture, we have a six-point strategy to increase farmers’ income. To increase production, to decrease the cost of production, the right price for production, to compensate for loss, diversification, and to move towards a natural way of agriculture. Today’s launch of rice varieties is fulfilling two of these strategies- drecrease in the cost of production… It is beneficial not only to farmers but also to the public. If we want to fulfil the nutritional needs of the increasing population, then we have to increase the production,” the Union Agriculture Minister said at the lauch event.
Chouhan further said that due to the production of these varieties, the maturity period of the crop will decrease and the irrigation will be required less. With this, a total of 7500 million cubic meters of irrigation water will be saved.
“Due to the early maturity of these varieties, the sowing of the next crop can be done on time and the multi-cropping system can be adopted,” he said.
Chouhan emphasized that in the coming times, there is a need for ensuring food security, increasing nutritious production, and providing food for both India and the world, while making India the food basket of the world. He stated, “We are proud that our efforts have led to the export of 48,000 crore worth of Basmati rice annually.”
The Minister also urged the need to take further steps to increase production of soybean, arhar, lentils, urad, oilseeds, and pulses.
He urged the farmers, especially the young farmers, to adopt advanced farming techniques. Chouhan said, “We need to take agricultural research to the farmers. When agricultural scientists and farmers come together, miracles will happen.”
These new varieties were developed using genome-editing technology based on CRISPR-Cas, which makes precise changes in the organism’s genetic material without adding foreign DNA. Genome editing of SDN 1 and SDN 2 types of genes has been approved under India’s biosafety regulations for general crops. (ANI)
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