Indian called upon her neighbours in South Asia to jointly tackle the challenges posed by climate change and bio-fuel programme, which may have far reaching implications for agriculture.
Inaugurating the three-day South Asian science-based agricultural transformation organised by the Iffco Foundation in collaboration with the government agencies on Wednesday, the agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said, ?The threats posed by climate change and impact of the pursuit of bio-fuels may have far reaching implications for agriculture policy. Our research has to respond to these demands in expeditious and efficient manner.?
He said that with agriculture becoming complex today we need science and technology interventions at a much larger scale at all stages of the agricultural chain. The urgency of enhancing farm productivity, bridging yield gaps and strengthening regional agricultural research, extension and farmer linkages can hardly be overemphasized, he said and added that investments and regional cooperation in R&D must, therefore, be at top of the policy agenda of South Asian countries.
?It is well accepted that investments in R&D pay off handsomely with appreciably high internal rate of return. Given the agro-climatic advantages and availability of manpower, there is potential to turn agriculture in the SAARC (South Asian) region into a dynamic sector with rapid technological accelerating growth and reducing poverty, he said.
He also called for better synergy in R&D efforts and said that India was ready to extend cooperation through her excellent network of research institutions.