India needs to step up investment in agriculture research and development (R&D), on lines with China and other developed nations, to develop new seeds and technologies to increase farm production, a senior official of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) said.

“Investment in agriculture R&D is less. It is close to 0.5 per cent of farm GDP. China has close to 1 per cent and it is almost 2.5 per cent in developed countries,” the IARI Director, Mr H.S. Gupta, told reporters here.

On the issue of foodgrains requirement, Mr Gupta said: “The requirement for 2020 would be 130 million tonnes of rice and 110 million tonnes of wheat. We will be able to meet the target of 2020 with the current technology,” he said.