President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday cautioned on shortfall in foodgrain production against the backdrop of second consecutive drought year and dry spell that followed.
“Despite the advancements made, Indian agriculture is yet to be completely out of the clutches of weather,” Mukherjee said addressing the 54th convocation of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) here.
Indian farmers had posted a record harvest of 265 million tonnes of foodgrain in 2013-14, a year that saw normal monsoon, but farm out put slumped to 253 million tonnes the following year when rainfall was 12 per cent deficient.
“Nature has not been kind to us this year as well. A deficient monsoon followed by a further dry spell is likely to affect agricultural production for the second year in a row. This is an area of grave concern,” Mukherjee said.
The President said climate change could aggravate such problems and institutions such as the IARI must leverage opportunities from frontier sciences to develop climate- resilient technological solutions.
“Innovation in agricultural techniques and practices must be supported through infusion of funds, mentoring of ideas, and technical assistance. The risk-taking ability of farmers must be boosted. The newly-launched crop insurance scheme will leverage technology to provide risk cover to the farmers,” he said.
(Published 05 February 2016, 19:45 IST)