TMCnet News
Rice poised to regain ancient glory in TN(The Statesman (India) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Rice is the worlds most important cereal. One in every three persons depends on rice for more than half of his/her daily food. The global requirement of rice during 2020 is expected to be 800 million tons as compared to the current production of 335 million tons from 146 million hectares. The growth rate in rice production, which reached 4.4 per cent during the 1980s, came down to 2.3 per cent in the 1990s. There is an urgent need to increase rice production the world over to achieve overall food security. In India when one thinks of rice, Tamil Nadu would normally spring to ones mind. Rice has been the staple food in Tamil civilisation. The ancient Tamil kingdoms, extending from the Krishna river to Kerala to Karnataka and Sri Lanka, were rich in varieties of rice. Each region had one or more variety of rice that had consumer preference and trade value. For each dish, there was a specific variety of rice. (Example: rice for meals, rice for kanji, rice for sweet pongal, kara pongal, rice for dosai, etc). Some of these varieties were exported in the olden days through various ports on the Bay of Bengal coast or the Cauvery river mouth ports. In fact, the Tamil kingdoms were the only ones that traded in rice in olden days. The scientific name of rice is Oriza, which is a word migration from Tamil Arisi to Arabic Araiz and to Greek Oryza. The Tamil kingdoms had different agro-climatic conditions like rain-fed dry-land areas, monsoon rain areas, dry-land areas, salt-affected areas like Tuticorin, cold hill areas like Anamalai (now in Kerala), tribal areas like Ooty and temperate climate areas like Yercaud. These different climates helped evolution of different rice varieties. But the decline in the economic importance of Tamil Nadu under European rule and introduction of high-yielding rice varieties like the IR-8, IR-20 etc., adversely affected Tamil Nadu rice varieties like Ponni and Chemba. The irrigation water shortage in Cauvery and the neglect of the traditional tank irrigation system also hit rice production. Many Tamil varieties of rice almost became extinct. Now, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), under vice-chancellor C Ramasamys stewardship, is trying to revive traditional varieties of rice. The vice-chancellor is extending support to his efficient team of scientists in this revival effort. The team includes Dr Chandra Babu, dean, Dr KN Selvaraj, Dr Mohana Sundaram, Dr S Robin, Dr S Manonmani and others. The team is applying molecular biology to infuse higher yield and drought tolerance abilities in these varieties to make its growth steady and remunerative for farmers. The university is also engaged in building disease/pest resistance to traditional rice varieties grown in rain-fed dry-land areas so that poor farmers get a good crop even if the rains fail. The university has most of the old Tamil rice varieties in its green house in the campus. The scientists have achieved a breakthrough in reviving traditional varieties and investing them with drought-resistant properties. On a recent visit to the university, RC RAJAMANI met the scientists, interacted with them and also interviewed Dr Ramasamy. Excerpts: Can you give us a brief account of the TNAU with its historical background and salient features? The TNAU had its genesis as the Madras Agricultural College (MAC), Saidapet in 1876. The MAC was later shifted to Coimbatore in 1905. The college was started with the purpose of improving Indian agriculture by giving young men and women the knowledge of scientific agriculture. The undergraduate programme in B.Sc. (agriculture) was initiated in 1920 under affiliation to Madras University. To add impetus to agricultural education, research and extension, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) was formed in June 1971 at Coimbatore and the Agricultural College and Research Institute became the foremost college affiliated to it. True to its emblem depicting the slogan of Till, Toil and Triumph, the university functions with the three-pronged objectives of agricultural education, research and extension. The TNAU received accreditation from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, considering its good infrastructure, academic excellence and performance. What are the highlights of the current research activities of the TNAU? The thrust areas of research are the development of hybrids, transgenic plants, organic farming, dryland and wasteland technologies, bio inputs, new technologies for sustainable production for various crops, post harvest technologies, and effective methods of transfer of technologies. The TNAU has carried out intensive research on rice to evolve hybrids with better quality than the released hybrids. In recent years, research has been directed to explore bio-fuels which are renewable and environmentally safe. Considering the importance of nano technology, efforts are being made to set up a Centre for Nano technology Application in Agriculture at the TNAU, using the grant from the Centre. It will address mainly the problems like weed management, fertiliser use efficiency, food contamination, disease infection and biotechnology application, etc. What are the salient features of progress made in research in different areas? The TNAU has 34 agricultural research stations spread over seven agro-climatic zones of the state. So for 453 crop varieties, 139 farm implements and several management technologies have been released for the benefit of farming. A total number of 49 varieties, 30 implements and 42 technologies were released during the past five years. Landmark rice varieties such as CO 2, GEB 24, TKM 6 and ADT 27 stood the test of the time and were cultivated widely by farmers. This institute also played a crucial role in the successful introduction of IRRI varieties such as IR 8 and IR 20 and by developing 150 rice varieties, which helped the country reach self-sufficiency in rice production. What is the status and progress of the current research on revival of traditional rice varieties? Traditional rice varieties have been collected and preserved in the germplasm. After characterisation of these accessions and the environment from which they have been collected, traditional rice varieties are preserved in the gene repository to offer valuable traits of resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses and nutritional properties. Since the yield potential of the traditional rice varieties are dismally low, to make them economically viable, they are hybridised with high yielding varieties to make them more productive. What are the benefits you expect from it? The traditional rice varieties are robust indigenous gene repository and are used to improve the value of the modern varieties. Norungan and Nootripathu, the two drought-tolerant traditional varieties, were extensively hybridised with the high yielding varieties (HYVs) and progenies with drought tolerance and high yield have been discovered. Using modern genetic tools, the genes and their locations in the chromosomes have been mapped in traditional varieties for enabling targeted introgression of genes for development of varieties with improved abiotic stress tolerance. Besides, indigenous technical know-how (ITK) on medicinal properties of the traditional rice varieties are bio-chemically validated. The specific biochemical properties of such varieties are targeted to be introduced into HYVs through selective breeding. For instance, dietary fibre content, enhanced a-amylase activity in the traditional anti-diabetic rice variety, Kavuni, was targeted for introduction into HYVs. As an agro-economist, how do you view the health of Indian agriculture, especially in terms of the nations food security? Indian agriculture needs focused efforts. There is an essential need to ensure viability of farming. While we are successful in crops such as rice, wheat and maize, it is important that Indian R&D in agriculture and developmental efforts must give high priority to oilseeds and pulses production. There is scope to increase the yield significantly in most crops. Marketing services must be regular and higher investment is needed to promote supply chain and marketing. Agrarian policies must encourage large-scale private investment in agriculture. If these conditions are ensured, I do not see any problem in ensuring food security. Investment in agriculture, both private and public, has been on the decline. What are the main reasons and what are the measures required for stepping up investment? Agricultural development heavily relies on government finance due to its inherent weaknesses such as presence of externalities, high risk and inadequacies in agricultural institutions like rural credit, input supply, etc., which discourage investment from private sources. Further, decline in public investment is due to burgeoning subsides. Agricultural research and education attracts very meagre public resources. Today, less than one per cent of the agricultural GDP is invested in agricultural research and education, which is far below compared to developed countries. Therefore, public private partnership (PPP) is necessary for attaining the momentum of growth in agriculture, which has been targeted at 4 per cent in the eleventh plan period. To achieve these objectives, the government has called for new initiatives from the private sector in precision farming and contract management of farms, which must be linked to both domestic and external markets through agricultural processing zone, stimulating floriculture and horticulture. Rationalising public expenditures and shifting from subsidies to investments in the key public goods such as rural roads, markets and agricultural research and extension is very crucial. The Cauvery water dispute is a highly sensitive political issue. As a scientist, what are your suggestions for an amicable solution so that farmers as a whole get the benefit? There is scope to settle the issue provided the whole dispute is examined in an objective manner. As a first step, the water sharing can be implemented as per the Supreme Court order. Secondly, all the four states which are benefited by the Cauvery have greater scope to efficiently use the water by proper planning and investment in modernisation of the whole water distribution system and application of technologies and practices in the use of water at the field level. We can increase the area under irrigation in the participating states with the allocated water as per the court decision. In order to achieve higher income at the farm level the diversification of farming and change of cropping pattern can be done. The state governments concerned, with financial support from the Centre, must make investments in creating new irrigation infrastructure and maintaining it. Agricultural universities and departments of agriculture can be asked to prescribe appropriate crop diversification and also the required water and crop management technologies. How, according to you, can the nations food security be ensured? In India, the available cultivable and cultivated lands have not been put to use to their potential for want of investment in cultivating the land and also under-utilisation of the available crop production and management technologies. It is possible to increase the crop yields, particularly foodgrain, by another 50 per cent very easily. In selected districts we can double the yields of foodgrain by adoption of the suggested technologies from the agricultural universities and development departments. In future, intensive transfer of knowledge and technologies to the farmers is critical. The government also must ensure adequate foodgrain reserves to intervene in the market so that farmers are not affected by the external factors. Precisely, technologies and incentive prices will ensure continuous rise in crop productivity. How do you see the overall agriculture education scene in India? Agricultural education has a bright future in view of the growing demand for agricultural produce (raw and processed) in the domestic and international markets and the challenges posed by the economic and agro-climatic environment. In the globalised context, agriculture has become a global movement. Increase in per capita income, concern for food safety, preference for value added food, organic food, convenience food, herbal medicines, neutraceuticals, etc., have broadened the scope of the agriculture sector. Food and nutritional security, especially for the less endowed segments of the population is on the top of the agenda of the government for ushering inclusive development. The emerging need for globally competitive agricultural production systems and dynamic market conditions demand large numbers of competent and confident agriculturally educated people. Agricultural universities need to reorient the syllabus and introduce new programmes so as to develop human resources to meet the challenges in a transforming era. In the globalised era, educational institutions in developed countries are willing to offer joint degree programmes in collaboration with agricultural universities in India. This interaction facilitates better understanding of the agricultural systems, technologies, research and development processes, technology delivery systems and nature of demand in different countries. This enriches the human resource devilment process and universities should come forward to enable such collaborations. (The interviewer is Editorial Consultant, The Statesman, New Delhi) Copyright 2007 The Statesman Ltd, Source: The Financial Times Limited [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] |