Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh today here addresses the 87thAGM of the ICAR Society. Shri Singh said that “the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has completed over eighty six years, overcoming challenges in growth and development of agriculture through generation of appropriate technologies that resulted in improving farm productivity, farm incomes, and building institutions, human resources, diversifying agriculture, creating new opportunities and opening up new frontiers of knowledge. The infusion of modern technologies in agriculture has undoubtedly rescued several innocent lives from claws of hungerthe ICAR is committed to overcome farm constraints to make Indian agriculture truly sustainable and profitable”.
Singh while highlighting the achievements of ICAR and its educational and research institutes said that “a new fish species Clarias serratobrachium sp. nov. was discovered from the wetlands along Indo-Burma border. Development of improved varieties and hybrids and availability of their quality seed is the most vital and critical input for increasing the productivity of crops. During the year, 80 new improved varieties/hybrids of different field and horticultural crops were released for cultivation in diverse agro-ecological regions of the country and produced and distributed over 98,000 quintals of breeder seeds of major food crops, as well. Biofortified rice variety CR Dhan 310 was commercialized successfully in the Indo-Gangetic Plains belt and Swarna Shreya, a new rice variety for drought–prone conditions was released.”