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In a significant research breakthrough, Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) has successfully developed
indigenous vaccine against the bird flu disease. This was
announced by Shri Sharad Pawar, Union Minister of
Agriculture while addressing the 77th Annual
General Meeting of the ICAR Society in New Delhi on
the 16th July, 2006.
The country had witnessed outbreak of Bird Flu, known as
Avian Influenza, in February this year, which had affected
the poultry industry. Dr. Mangala Rai, Director General of
ICAR called it a big step forward in tackling the disease.
“Viral disease such as Avian Influenza does not recognize
boundaries and the development of indigenous vaccine would
go a long way in tackling bird flu effectively. Since the
disease has got recurring possibility, further research
would focus on developing another type of vaccine”, Dr.
Rai said.
ICAR, the country’s premier agricultural research
organization, decided to develop a killed vaccine against
bird flu indigenously and had provided Rs. 8 crore for
vaccine development programme immediately after the
outbreak of bird flu. High Security Animal Disease
Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal under ICAR produced the vaccine
in record four months. The laboratory is the country’s
only facility to conduct tests for the H5N1 variant of
bird flu. Till now, the country was importing the vaccine
to tackle the disease, which had resulted in death of
several thousand birds and culling of more than 10 lakh
birds.
Dr. Mangala Rai informed the meeting that a comprehensive
draft report has been submitted by the committee
constituted by ICAR to develop guidelines for Intellectual
Property Management and Commercialization of Technologies
in the ICAR system. The report was prepared taking
cognizance of the national and international legal
frameworks in IP and would be discussed in the forthcoming
Governing Body meeting of the ICAR society on 19th
September 2006 so that an efficient and effective system
is put in place, he said. The committee was constituted in
view of rapid developments in areas of intellectual
property rights, benefit sharing in agriculture,
increasing role of private sector in agricultural research
and development and to share gains from commercialization
in the ICAR system.
The Agriculture Minister, who is also the President of
ICAR Society, told the members that National Agricultural
Innovation Project (NAIP), being launched in this month,
with World Bank assistance envisaging investment of over
Rs. 1150 crore, would help in achieving in increasing
farmers’ income and ensuring livelihood security. “
The project envisages targeting the rural poor and the
disadvantaged groups like women as beneficiaries of
agricultural technology generation and dissemination in
consonance with the government’s objectives, as expressed
in the National Policy on Agriculture”, he said.
Referring to country’s food grains scenario, Shri Pawar
underlined the fact that though the area under food grains
had remained stagnant at around 125 million hectares for
the last 25 years, the increase in food grains production
has been achieved largely through productivity enhancement
from 522 kg/ha in 1950-51 to over 1700 kg/ha in 2005. He
attributed this increase to development and adoption of
improved varieties possessing high yield and resistance to
important diseases and pests.
Regarding stagnation of country’s wheat production in
recent years, Agriculture Minister called for remedial
measures to improve factor productivity. It includes
integrated nutrient management and adoption of resource
conservation technologies, especially zero-tillage and bed
planting. These technologies have helped in reducing cost
of cultivation, thereby increasing the profit margins of
the farmers. “Improving growth of total factor
productivity also calls for enhanced investments in
research, extension and in creation of necessary
infrastructure leading to efficient use of energy, inputs
and other resources”, he said.
Drop in total factor productivity has happened primarily
on account of intensive cultivation of same crop year
after year. The present national ratio of fertilizer
application of Nitrogen : Phosphorous
: Potash is 5.7:2.2:1 against the
recommended 4:2:1. This ratio is alarming in
our major wheat growing states of Punjab (27.8: 7.3:1),
Haryana (40.3:12.3:1) and UP (13.2:
4.1: 1). Further, over mining of nutrients without
matching replenishment is adversely affecting wheat
productivity.
The Agriculture Minister announced that an
additional Rs. 200 crores would be provided as assistance
to State Agriculture Universities to strengthen
agricultural education in the country. The curricula of
the agricultural universities would be thoroughly revamped
to make them modern and equipped to face challenges of the
globalization of agriculture and intellectual property
rights regime. Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), numbering 536
including 85 sanctioned this year, would be involved in
the National Horticulture Mission for technology
demonstration for accelerated productivity, production and
employment in the horticulture sector. “ In short, the
KVKs should be able to function as ‘knowledge banks’ in
each district and be able to provide information on all
agricultural-related issues required by farmers”, the
Minister said.
Dr. Mangala Rai while presenting the annual
report of ICAR outlined the major new initiatives taken by
the Council during the year. He informed that under the
Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture (KIA), Borlaug
Fellowships and Cochran Fellowships are being offered to
expose promising individuals in the early stages of their
career to cutting edge knowledge in research techniques.
It is also decided that Humphrey and Fulbright educational
exchange programmes of USA would also include participants
under KIA. “ Thus, we have a great opportunity ahead under
the Initiative, the benefits of which will help in
developing first rate science and technology thereby
helping to realize enhanced profitability and agricultural
productivity”, he said.
ICAR has established about 35 strategic
research networks in priority areas like genomics, gene
pyramiding, molecular breeding, integrated disease
management etc. A National Fund for Basic and Strategic
Research in Agricultural Sciences to build capacity and
for supporting research has also been launched. It is
expected that this approach would help the Indian National
Agricultural Research System (NARS) in finding solutions
for the immediate problems of farming while saving time
and precious resources and also to develop competence in
technology generation, Dr. Rai said.
The Council has kickstarted a new programme
on Seed Production in Crops and Fisheries with an outlay
of about Rs. 200 crore at 85 centres across the country to
enhance the seed production, both in terms of quality and
quantity. Terming this programme as a vital link to
provide quality seeds, Dr. Rai said, “ The production of seed/planting material
through the project will supplement the efforts of seed
agencies to enhance seed replacement rate in the country
and facilitate a faster spread of high yielding new
varieties/ hybrids and will certainly boost the food
productivity and production”.
In order to strengthen the process of
technology transfer, the Council has sanctioned 85 new
Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), thus raising the number to
536 till date. It is expected to establish at least one
KVK in each of the 588 rural districts in the country by
the end of Tenth Five Year Plan. During the year, 11
varieties of rice, 16 varieties of wheat, 4 varieties of
barley, 11 cultivars of maize, 1 variety each of finger
and foxtail millet, 1 variety each of grain sesame and
amaranth and 2 varieties of buckwheat have been released
for cultivation in different parts of the country. In
forage crops, 3 varieties of oats and 1 variety each of
cowpea, anjan grass and berseem have also been released
for cultivation. 26 varieties of different vegetables have
been identified for release.
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