The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Supply cereals through PDS permanently: Swaminathan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Supply cereals through PDS permanently: Swaminathan

Special Correspondent

This is necessary to enhance nutrition security and productivity

FOOD FOR SUSTENANCE: Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, Chairman, MSSRF and CLL Gowde , Global theme leader, crop improvement and management, ICRISAT, in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: Shaju John

CHENNAI: M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, National Commission on Farmers, called for making available cereals through the public distribution system permanently to enhance nutrition security and productivity and economic sustainability of rain-fed agriculture.

Talking to presspersons after presiding over an international symposium on participatory plant breeding and knowledge management for strengthening rural livelihoods here on Monday, Dr. Swaminathan decried the practice of describing millets, ragi, bajra and jowar as "coarse cereals." He said they should be called "nutritious cereals," as they were rich in micronutrients and minerals.

Referring to the low share of cereals and pulses in the country's total food-grain production, he said given the technologies available, the production of cereals and pulses could be easily doubled or trebled.

Calling for a well-balanced food security system, Dr. Swaminathan, also chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), said a wide range of crops required revitalisation. A synergy of technological interventions and public policy could help to increase crop production. By helping farmer-consumers have greater marketable surplus through higher productivity, poverty-induced hunger and malnutrition could be eliminated.

C.L.L. Gowda, global theme leader, crop improvement and management, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), said farmers were in no position to grow crops such as sorghum and millets for lack of demand. Hence, they should be supported through the PDS. His organisation was also looking at alternative users of the crops.

Watershed management

The ICRISAT and the Tamil Nadu Government would implement a Rs.9-crore integrated watershed development programme soon. The Government had given approval in principle and released Rs. 1 crore. The institute, along with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Coca Cola Foundation, was implementing a similar scheme in three Tirunelveli villages.

Earlier, Dr. Gowda read out the speech of William D. Dar, Director-General, ICRISAT, at the inauguration of the symposium. According to the ICRISAT chief, with recent advances in information and communication technology and the wider use of satellite radio services and improved availability of digital maps, a new paradigm in facilitating farmer-to-farmer and expert-to-farmer knowledge sharing was emerging. With fewer experts, it was possible to reach out to a larger number of farmers effectively.

S. Kannaiyan, chairman, National Biodiversity Authority, commended the foundation's efforts at participatory plant breeding (PPB).

V. Arunachalam, Distinguished Fellow and Technical Programme Adviser of the Foundation, gave an account of the PPB project in Jeypore, Orissa.

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