NEW DELHI,17 March 2022: International centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) enabled access to global germplasm for use in the Indian breeding programmes.
Ten high yielding varieties of Lentil, Chickpea and Barley have been released by ICARDA along with ICAR for commercial cultivation in India during the last three years. Of these, six were released in 2019, three in 2020 and one in 2021, the agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in Lok Sabha recently.
The ICARDA is engaged in the research and development of improved varieties of food crops (Wheat and Barley) and nutritionally rich pulses (Chickpea, Lentil, Grasspea/Lathyrus and Faba bean). Besides, ICARDA also works on different natural management systems like cropping systems, water productivity modelling, conservation agriculture technology, fodder cactus, etc. in association with the ICAR institutions, the State/Central Agricultural Universities and the Central and State Departments.
The dovernment has helped ICARDA in the establishment of a Food Legume Research Platform in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh in 2014-15.
Later, the ICARDA established a Satellite Hub on Pulses in West Bengal and one on Natural Resource Management in Rajasthan for the benefit of Indian farming community.
Image credit: cgiar.org
