Though Indian economy was growing fast, it has failed to achieve complete food security leaving the rural economy in crisis, a senior official from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Sunday.

At the convocation of Anna University of Technology here, Mr W Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, R&D at DRDO, Delhi said factors like rising population, urbanisation, declining crop land, crop production and biodiversity were affecting agriculture and food security in the country.

The underlying problem of Indian agriculture that threatened food security was extremely low productivity for which there was the need to adopt new crop production technologies and tools, Mr Selvamurthy, said.

He added the country had to develop infrastructure for the rapid propagation of the highly cost effective crop production technologies.

In order to facilitate adaptation to climate change, which was expected to impact agriculture production and shifting cropping pattern, new drought and heat resistant varieties have to be developed and adopt new farm management practices and watershed, he said.

Scientists can take up various challenges by providing technological solutions to farmers, which could enrich organic matter in the soil and help in adopting methods of crop production for increasing carbon sequestration, he said.

Talking on energy security, Mr Selvamurthy said that per capita consumption of power was expected to double by 2020, with 6.3 per cent annual growth and reach 5,000—6,000 KWh by 2050, even though only 700 KWh was available per capita.

He said that DRDO was striving for making valuable contributions in the transformation of India as a ‘Military and Knowledge Power.’

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