MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)
(a) & (b): Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has overall 103 institutions (Research Institutes 68, Bureau 6, Directorates 14 and National Research Centres 15) and 81 All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs)/Network Projects (NPs) in the areas of field and horticultural crops, animal species, Fisheries, Engineering, Natural resources management and several other areas of research that are in operation spreading all over the country including rural and backward areas. The funds are allocated project/scheme-wise and not the institute or state wise as some of the schemes are running in more than one state which are running under these Institutions. The state wise list of the ICAR Institutes is given in Annexure-I, List of AICRPs/NPs is given in Annexure-II and the details regarding the expenditure incurred by the Government on the research centres is given in enclosed as Annexure-III.
(c) & (d): Yes, Madam.
• The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequent developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development that has enabled the country to increase the production of food grains by 5 times, horticultural crops by 9.5 times, fish by 12.5 times, milk 7.8 times and eggs 39 times since 1951, thus making a visible impact on the national food and nutritional security. The research efforts of the Institutes/Centres/AICRPs have led to the development and released of 672 high yielding, stresses (biotic & abiotic) tolerant varieties/hybrids in different field crops for cultivation under different agro-climatic conditions during 2014-2017. Approximately, 350514 quintals of breeder seeds of improved varieties of field crops and 18.5 lakh grafted plants, 12 lakh rooted cuttings and tuber crops, 90 tonnes of breeder/truthfully labelled seeds of vegetable crops, 5500 tonnes of breeders seed of potato and tropical tuber crops were produced and distributed during 2014-15 to 2016-17 for sustaining the effective seed chain in the states. These varieties and improved management practices have contributed significantly in increasing the production in field crops e.g. the production of total food grain increased from 252.02 million tons in 2014-15 to 275.68 million tons in 2016-17. In case of individual commodity also the increased production is recorded like, rice production has increased from 105.48 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 110.15 million tonnes in 2016-17, wheat production increased from 86.52 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 98.38 million tonnes in 2016-17. Similarly the research achievements in pulses led to the increase in pulses production from 17.15 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 22.95 million tonnes in 2016-17. The vegetable production increased from 166.6 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 176.2 million tonnes in 2016-2017. Similarly fruits production increased from 89.5 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 93.7 million tonnes in 2016-2017.
• During the last 3.5 years ICAR developed and released 13 improved poultry, pig and sheep varieties/breeds which include; 4 backyard poultry: Kamrupa in Assam, Narmadanidhi in MP, Jharsim in Chhattisgarh and Himsamridhi in HP; 8 pig varieties: HD-K75, Rani and Asha in Assam; Jharsuk in Jharkhand; Mannuthy White in Kerala; Lumsniang in Meghalaya; TANUVAS KTM Gold Crossbred Pig (Large White Yorkshire x Desi) in Tamil Nadu and “SVVU-T 17 Crossbred Pig”, (Large White Yorkshire x Desi) in Telangana besides one prolific and high producing breed of sheep ‘Avishan’
• To increase productivity, reduce cost of cultivation, reduce drudgery, improve value addition, conserve resources and provide alternate means for energy generation through improve farm mechanisation, ICAR developed 72 new farm equipment/machines/gadgets and 34 new products/ process protocols and supplied over 16500 prototypes of agricultural machinery to farmers/ entrepreneurs. Due to these efforts steady growth has occurred in adoption of efficient manually operated tools, animal operated implements, and equipment operated by mechanical and electrical power sources in the country. ICAR trained 710 rural youth for establishing Custom Hiring Centres in different parts of the country out of which 652 entrepreneurs established Custom Hiring Centres. ICAR equipped 194 startup companies and agri-entrepreneurs by providing necessary training and skills to start their new agri-ventures.
• ICAR has developed and validated 623 district contingency plans and conducted skill development programs for 40.9 lakh farmers. Mridaprarikshak a minilab for soil analysis developed to support Government’s initiative of Soil Health Card. ICAR has also developed 45 Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) models in 23 states and 1 Union Territory covering all the 15 agro-climatic regions of the country. These models were tested and further validated in the fields of 1250 farmers each under various different agro ecologies covering 23 states of the country.
• For delivering the benefits of research to the farmers, the ICAR has established a network of 681 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country. Through this network the technologies/ products being evolved are demonstrated by organizing various extension programmes like farmers fair, Krishi Mahotsav, exhibitions, exposure visits, animal check-up camps and diagnostic and advisory services for soil, water and infected plant samples and also training of farmers to update their knowledge and skill. These programmes have also benefited the farmers in terms of increased crop production and improved farm income.
• For strengthening the Government’s initiative on Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India, a new Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) has been established at Barhi, Jharkhand on the lines of IARI, PUSA, New Delhi and another IARI is being established in Assam, Rajendra Agricultural University has been upgraded to Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, six new colleges opened under Central Agricultural University, Imphal, National Research Centre for Integrated Farming established in Motihari (Bihar) and National Organic Farming Research Institute established in Tadong (Sikkim). Besides this, ICAR established six new Regional Research Stations in MP, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal. Financial support has been extended to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Haryana Governments for the establishment of new Agriculture and Horticulture Universities.
A new, state of the art Phonemics Facility has been created at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. International fellowships for Ph.D. programmes in frontier areas of agricultural sciences were given to 105 young scientists to train them in the identified best laboratories of the world. The research collaboration with various national and international agencies including CG Centres strengthened, a new scheme of Emeritus Professor with 100 positions initiated and the slots for emeritus scientists doubled from 50 to 100 and the honorarium enhanced from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000 per month. To attract and retain talent in agriculture sciences, a new National Talent Scholarship has also been introduced for PG students from 2016-17.
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