North farmers to reap

Sun, Mar 2 02:05 AM

FARMERS IN India will soon get to sow a new set of early ripening and temperature resistant species of agricultural and horticultural crops currently being developed by scientists at the G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, (Pantnagar), revealed its vice-chancellor Professor A. P. Sharma. "These crop species are being developed to suit the weather cycle that is changing fast under the impact of global warming", he said.

"As part of this model farmers would also be encouraged to go for integrated farming (or mixed crops) so that they would not suffer much losses in case of a failure of one crop." Speaking to Hindustan Times over the phone the vice-chancellor said the new agricultural model currently being developed would suit the requirements of the entire north Indian region including the fertile Indo-Gangetic plain and Uttarakhand.

"In this connection, we recently constituted a Task Force of farm scientists, who would study the impact of global warming on the agricultural and horticultural production in the entire north Indian region", he said. The assessment based on the study would help farm scientists develop the required species of agricultural and horticultural crops.

"It would take farm experts around 15 years in developing the new agricultural model", pointed out Sharma. "Farm experts would nonetheless be able to advise farmers about the hardy and temperature resistant crop species to be grown in the future on the basis of the conclusions they (farm scientists) would be able to draw in the next one year.

" Noting that the study would also be carried out in Uttarakhand the vice-chancellor said the region though was "more complex", compared to other regions of the country. "Uttarakhand is a more complex region owing to its varied agro-climatic regions", he said.

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