PM Modi Unveils 109 Climate-Resilient Crop Varieties, Interacts With Farmers And Scientists

Prime Minister Modi will launch 109 high-yielding crop varieties in Delhi on August 11th, including those of millet, vegetables, spices, and medicinal crops.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils 109 high-yielding, climate-resilient and biofortified varieties of crops at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the national capital Delhi on Sunday (August 11). During the event, the Prime Minister also interacted with farmers and scientists.

The 109 varieties of 61 crops which were released by PM Modi included 34 field crops and 27 horticultural crops, according to an official statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO),

Among the field crops, seeds of various cereals, including millet, forage crops, oilseeds, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, fibre and other potential crops were released. While, for the horticultural crops, different varieties of fruits, vegetable crops, plantation crops, tuber crops, spices, flowers and medicinal crops were released.

Over the years, Prime Minister Modi has consistently advocated for sustainable farming practices and the adoption of climate-resilient methodologies. He has also emphasised the promotion of biofortified crop varieties by integrating them with government initiatives such as the Mid-Day Meal scheme and Anganwadi programs to make India free from malnutrition. He has also stressed that these steps will ensure good income for the farmers along with opening new avenues of entrepreneurship for them.

The step to release 109 high-yielding varieties is yet another step in this direction, as per the PMO.

Meanwhile, the Union government is already promoting green agriculture by way of good practices with environmental concerns. It is implementing the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate.

In addition, the government has also announced the "PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth" (PM-PRANAM) scheme in Budget 2023-24 with the objective to incentivise the States and UTs to promote the usage of alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilisers.