With India’s population estimated to reach 1.3 billion by 2017 and serious shortage of capacity to store food grains, the country will be short of 14 million tonnes of foodgrains.
"The shortage of storage capacity became acute this year because of a bumper crop in 2008-09. We had 55 million tonnes of foodgrain reserves but the storage capacity with Food Corporation of India (FCI) is to the tune of 30 million tonnes. As a result 25 million tonnes of foodgrains being stored outside godowns. There is an urgent need to develop the storage capacity to prevent wastage of foodgrains," Swapan Dutta, deputy director general (CS), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said.
A growing population and climate change have emphasised the need to meet the rising need for foodgrains by improving India's crop productivity through innovations in agriculture, he said.
Addressing a workshop on 'Ensuring Food Security and Agriculture Sustainability through advances in Agri-Innovation', organised by the University of Agriculture Sciences, Bangalore and All India Crop Biotechnology Association, here today, Dutta said abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, high or low temperature and flooding are serious problems in India. While the recent floods in Karnataka have caused damages to the extent of Rs 20,000 crore, the data available with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) shows 2009 as the third worst monsoon year since 1901 with a rainfall deficiency of 23 per cent across the country.
Such abiotic stresses are the most limiting factors with adverse effect on the stable crop growth and productivity. Environmental stress factors have been estimated to cause any depreciation in crop yield up to 70 per cent, he said.
Emphasising the need for science-based solutions to tackle foodgrain shortage, he said, "Climatic risks are common in Indian agriculture. It has been well documented that crops attain only about 25 per cent of their yield potential because of the impact of environment stress. Land resources available to agriculture are shrinking while population continues to grow. Hence, it is imperative that innovations in agriculture technology are employed to ensure food security in the country."
Shantu Shantaram, senior research scholar, Princeton University, said over 90 per cent of biotech crop farmers who are from developing countries enjoy multiple benefits of biotechnology like higher yields and productivity and savings on insecticides. The future belongs to this technology and India must not be left behind and become dependent on others.
"India can be a global food contributor. Agri-innovations offer environmental sustainability as well as economical sustainability and can play a major role in enhancing productivity on the same acre of land," he said