Drylands are thirsty and hungry, but because of the changing climate and environmental pollution, these areas are becoming thirstier and hungrier. If the current trend of increasing temperatures continues, and if there is no intervention with new science and new technologies, then the most crops’ yield in the country will be reduced by around 25 to 30 per cent by 2050, according to Himanshu Pathak, the new Director-General of ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), says.
Taking part in an interaction to mark the institute’s Foundation Day, he said semi-arid tropics drylands, which constitute about half the total cultivable land in the world, are facing harsh conditions.
“If the current trend in increasing temperatures continues and if there is no intervention with new science and technologies, then the crop yield of most crops in this country will be reduced,” he said.
Moisture-deficient
“The soil health of those drylands is not very good. These crops are grown in very poor conditions, with less water, poor soil, and also by poor farmers. More than 2 billion people depend on drylands, which are now facing even bigger problems because of climate change,” he said.
Pathak, who was the Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), and Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has taken over as Director-General of ICRISAT.
He felt that the soils in dryland areas were not only deficient in moisture, they also lacked health because of the changing climate and environmental pollution.
On the other hand, the requirement for pulses and oilseeds was increasingly demanding. “We have to grow more pulses, more millets, more cereals, and more oilseeds from the land that is already very difficult, with less water, fewer nutrients, and more and more challenges from climate change,” he said.
New releases
To address this, the institute is working with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) partners in different countries.
During the last few years, the institute released over 1,200 varieties of its mandate crops (sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut).
“We bring in new technologies and new science from all over the world, work with our partners, including universities and private organisations, to calibrate and validate those technologies, conduct multi-location testing of those technologies and release those varieties for different agroclimatic zones,” he said.
He said these varieties in several crops reflected in yields increases of 20-25 per cent in dryland areas.
New science, tech
He said the objective is to bring in new science and new technologies like genome editing and genomics, as well as genomic tools, and digital technologies, including AI, so that we will be able to develop climate-resilient varieties,” he said.
Besides performing well even under climatic stress conditions and stresses from biotic as well as abiotic factors, they will be able to provide good yield and good nutrition. “Our focus is on developing biofortified varieties and manage natural resources such as water,” he said.