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Experts for restructuring plant breeding programme

Staff Correspondent

`People would require 325 million tons of foodgrains by 2025'

CHANDIGARH: With the present plant breeding programme, it may be difficult for India to meet its food grains requirement, which is expected to grow to 325 million tonnes by 2025. The future of agriculture stood challenged as none of the Indian corporates figured among the nine seed companies operating at global level.

These views were expressed by renowned agriculture experts, Karen A. Holbrook, who is the president of the Ohio State University (OSU), U.S., and S. Nagarajan, Chairman of Farmers' Rights Authority, New Delhi, while addressing two separate functions in the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) this past week.

At a special convocation on Wednesday last, the PAU conferred the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris causa) on Dr. (Ms) Holbrook, for her outstanding contributions to science and reviving the second phase of partnership between PAU and OSU.

On the occasion, Dr. Holbrook said that though food grain production in India increased from 50 million tons in 1960s to over 220 million tons at the turn of the century, the growing needs of people would require 325 million tons by 2025.

"There is still a lot to be done. Effective research and development programmes in plant breeding, weed control, plant protection and agricultural engineering will have to be implemented to achieve this target'', a PAU release quoting her said. Dr Nagarajan stressed the need to restructure the overall plant breeding programme in the country as the foreign companies were supplying about 85 per cent seed in the country. The PAU Vice-Chancellor, K. S. Aulakh, has stressed that there would be no complacency in the food grain production programme.

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