Focus on food security at science meet

Agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan said food security would be one of the major casualties of climate change with the rise in temperature having a devastating impact on wheat production. The wheat output from rain-fed areas in the country would come down by 44 per cent by 2050 if adaptation measures are not initiated.

“As much as 50 per cent of India’s wheat-growing areas might be classified as heat-stressed lower potential areas. For every one degree Celsius rise in mean temperature,the wheat loss is estimated to be of the order of six million tonnes per year. Increased attack from pests,diseases and weeds would further bring down production,” he said.

Community-based systems like gene bank,seed bank,grain bank and common water resources have been developed to tide over the crisis,added Swaminathan.

Dr D D Patra,a senior scientist with Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants,Lucknow,said, “There are common fears that food security is at stake as a result of non-food crops capturing the area of food crops. Farmers are clever enough to adopt diversification by enhancing cropping intensity and not by introducing non-food crops at the cost of food crops. This is perhaps a pre-condition when high value biodiesel crops like Jatropha,and medicinal and aromatic and other industrial crops are being introduced,” he said.