India develops low water consuming varieties of rice, wheat
With depleting water resources in the country, govt has developed 41 varieties of rice & 22 varieties of wheat in the last one decade
By PTI | Updated:
NEW DELHI: With depleting water resources in the country, the government has developed 41 varieties of rice and 22 varieties of wheat in the last one decade that require less water for irrigation.
In case of pearl millet, 12 varieties have been developed between 1991-2011 for dry regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, according to the data presented by Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat in the Lok Sabha last week.
"During 2001-10, 39 rice varieties for upland direct seeded and two for aerobic conditions have been developed, which requires less water," Rawat said.
In case of wheat, 22 varieties have been developed during the past one decade that require either zero or 1-2 times irrigation.
The government has also developed 12 varieties of pearl millet for dry regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, where annual rainfall has been less than 400 mm during the last 20 years, he added.
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The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (IACR) with the help of its All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs), which are based at various State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) are involved in developing crops for different agro-climatic conditions in the country.At present, there are 168 AICRP centres across the country working on food crops like rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millets, small millets, etc.
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